When A HOA Refuses To Approve Solar
January 1st, 2010
I recently ran across this youtube video of John Forbes of Superior Colorado explaining the story of how his Rock Creek HOA took a year to approve his solar installation because they didn’t have architectural guidelines for solar installations. Colorado is one of the states that has a solar law similar to Oregon’s that prevents HOAs from banning solar installations yet allows HOAs to have installation guidelines.
After a year of delaying, John had to threaten legal action before the Rock Creek HOA would approve his solar installation. There are a remarkable number of similarities between John Forbes situation and the current solar installation hold up that we have here in Creekside. However, in the John Forbes case the Rock Creek HOA never broke the law since, as John describes, they knew about the Colorado law that prohibits banning solar installations, so they didn’t take any disapproval action. Whereas the Creekside HOA broke the Oregon law when they disapproved my solar installation request and cited the reason that “the panels are not permitted by the Creekside CC&Rs“. Oregon State Law ORS 105.880 does not allow CC&Rs to ban solar panels.
