Bill Tracker: HB 231 - Renewable Energy Trumps Home Owners Associations
By Karl Lynch
Thu, 03/08/2007 - 2:10pm
We have all heard of extreme examples of homeowners associations filing lawsuits to prevent homeowners from building walls, painting their house the wrong color, or parking a RV outside the home year round. We have seen pictures of Santa Fe, New Mexico where almost all the architecture is the same. Imagine if the guy next door decided to go green and put in a big solar array in his front yard to capture the energy of the sun.
HB 231 opens up this dialogue by making it difficult for homeowners associations to enforce a "dedicatory" instrument that prohibits or restricts a property owner from installing renewable energy technology.
This legislation is necessary to bring to the forefront the issue of balance. How do we balance our desire to embrace renewable energy with our efforts to protect our neighborhoods from radical change?
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Economic Arguments For And Against
By Patrick M McLeod
Thu, 03/08/2007 - 4:22pm
As a part-time landscaper and gardener who encourages people to grow native as much as possible, this reminds me of an enduring local story about a couple in Corinth who have run into issues with their neighbors and the City of Corinth with regards to xeriscaping.
What reminded me of this story is that I rarely see anyone who is against xeriscaping or against a home that has green energy alternatives tackle the most basic benefit of pursuing these avenues: Cost savings. Keeping all of our alien St. Augustine and fesque lawns green through Texas summers is a very expensive proposition; a nicely-done xeriscaped yard uses significantly less water and requires far less chemical treatement for fertilization and pest control because the plants are from Texas and have evolved for generations in our climate (drought- and heat-tolerant) and resisting our usual array of pests.
I would figure roughly the same thing would hold true for the installation of renewable energy sources: What is the logic in punishing a homeowner for being environmentally responsible and economically efficient? I realize that in some neighborhoods and subdivisions there must be a balance between homogeneity and responsibility/efficiency, but my experiences tell me that homogeneity wins out far more often than does responsibility and efficiency.
To me, that just doesn't seem to jive with the economic underpinnings of most contemporary legal analysis.
This legislation sounds like a step in the right direction.
Obstacles to Renewable Energy
By rabbit162
Fri, 04/13/2007 - 3:12pm
I wanted to put up a small wind turbine on my roof (no bigger than a satellite dish, which many houses here have), and the City of Kerrville first in an emergency measure, passed a moratorium on them, and despite my bringing a turbine and showing it to the City Council and showing them how small it was, passed an ordinance against them. The objections were that it was unsightly and might be noisy. (The only time it would make more than a whisper would be during a strong storm when there would be all sorts of other noise at the same time.) Hopefully this bill and others pending (HB 1958 or HB 2226 or some Federal bills pending) will put a stop to this.
Is this common?
By Josh Berthume
Mon, 04/16/2007 - 10:15am
Have you heard about other people encountering resistance like this? I know cities are weird about code, but that seems overly arbitrary, even for municipal government.
Alternative Energy devices
By rabbit162
Mon, 04/16/2007 - 1:41pm
Kerrville is a small, ultra-conservative (reactionary) community that resists anything new.