Last night at the City of Santa Monica Council Meeting, I testified on behalf of the Chapter to recommend that the City of Santa Monica strike from its proposed Solar Energy Systems Design Standards Ordinance Section 1.2.(e), language that mandates that "solar collector panels shall be installed in the location that is the least visible from abutting streets directly facing the subject property."
It was our thoughts that by mandating "least visible", the ordinance will legislate a highly subjective design standard that may create unnecessary barriers to new solar installations and, hence, make it more difficult to meet the region's renewable energy goals.
Additionally, we were concerned that by mandating "least visible", The City of Santa Monica, which is known as an environmental affairs innovator, is fostering the misconception that solar panels are best when they are hidden from view. Rather than be relegated to an area where they will be least noticed and possibly less efficient, solar energy systems should be celebrated for their environmental, economic, and potential aesthetic benefits to the City.
NEVERTHELESS, and despite that over 19 people (including AIA/LA members Angie Brooks, AIA, Jesse Bornstein, AIA, Global Green, The law firm of Mannett, Phelps & Phillips and several Solar advocates) testified their concerns that mandating 'least visible' not only violated state law but sent the wrong message that solar systems were inherently blightful (thus the need to make 'least visible') and could potentially propel other municipalities to set forth similar aesthetic standards, the Santa Monica City Council chose to ignore public testimony and pass the ordinance as recommended by Santa Monica Planning Staff. Council even chose to ignore the amended recommendations set forth by the Santa Monica Planning Commission, which would have lowered the increased cost threshold from $2000 to $500 to be exempt from the 'least visible' mandate.
All in all, and with the exception of Mayor Pro Tem Pam O'Connor and Councilmember Gleam Davis (who was the sole dissenting vote), I was highly dismayed at Council's unwillingness to listen to the reasonable arguments of the community. Not one single person testified that the visibility of solar energy systems disrupted their communities - therefore, making the entire conversation about 'least visible' purely conjectural in its anticipation of a problem that doesn't exist. Additionally, Santa Monica City Council even seemed to enjoy debating with the community, further confusing the issue and constantly resorting to the premise that most projects have to go to the Architectural Review Board anyway, so therefore any attempt to streamline the process was unnecessary.
Councilmember Holbrook obfuscated the issue even further - challenging Global Green to the purely hypothetical dilemma of when is it okay, if ever, to cut a tree down to ensure maximum performance of an solar array.
All this being said, I recognized last night (since this was my first appearance at a Council Meeting there) that the City of Santa Monica and its council members could definitely benefit from the expanded efforts of our applied design advocacy. We have a wealth of architectural leadership already in place with the civic involvement of AIA/LA members Michael Folonis, FAIA, Hank Koning, FAIA and Gwynne Pugh, AIA.
As your government affairs liaison I look forward to receiving further strategic direction for how AIA Los Angeles can become a greater resource to Santa Monica, a city that is so often held to the high esteem as an innovative leader to other municipalities.
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Will Wright, Director of Government & Public Affairs
American Institute of Architects / Los Angeles
3780 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 800, Los Angeles, CA 90010
(213) 639-0777 phone | (213)639-0767 fax
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