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On Tuesday Oct. 26, 2021 Council will be taking up the issue of solar protection for existing properties. Please send them an email in support of item 36. 

Write to the Berkeley City Council and urge them to direct staff to develop solar access shadowing standards to protect rooftop solar panels from shadowing by new development built at both residential and commercial locations.  

Tell them that the “Supplemental Recommendations on Objective Standards”, submitted by Councilmembers Sophie Hahn, Kate Harrison, Susan Wengraf and Mayor Arreguin should be amended to apply the standards not just to commercial areas, but to residential areas as well.  

Send e-mail by noon, Monday October 25 to: council@cityofberkeley.info ; and copy to: clerk@cityofberkeley.info (Even if you’ve previously sent email on this topic, it’s important that the Council hear from you again regarding protection for residential districts.)  

Comment at next Tuesday’s Council meeting via zoom. To access the meeting use this URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87152148000. The Meeting starts at 6 p.m., but item 36 on objective standards will not be discussed until later in the evening.  

Recent state law allows cities to protect solar access with “objective standards” as part of the design requirements for new housing. Currently Berkeley lacks objective solar access and shadowing standards that many other cities have already enacted. Berkeley has yet to protect rooftop solar panels, even though Berkeley was designated as a Solar America City by U.S. Department of Energy in 2007. Sadly, the absence of standards and codes has already allowed cases where solar panels have been shadowed by new development.  

In your email: Tell the City Council and Mayor Arreguin that “Objective standards” should require any new construction to PROTECT SOLAR ACCESS on any nearby roof, up until one hour before sundown very day of the year.  

Background:  

Item 36 on the Tuesday, October 26 Berkeley City Council agenda addresses solar access and other objective standards to guide development. This item was continued from the October 12 meeting. Supplemental recommendations recently submitted by councilmembers Hahn, Harrison, Wengraf and Arreguin offer specific recommendations that address many concerns about protecting solar access. They are a good start, but need to be strengthened. In the current form they would not apply to residentially zoned areas. The standards would apply to potential shadowing of nearby residential buildings by new development on a commercial street like Shattuck or San Pablo, but they would not apply to shadowing of one residential property by an adjacent residential property.  

Berkeley is expected to plan for 9,000 new housing units in the next eight years. In Berkeley, where most lots are small – increased density, without common sense guidelines – will result in dramatic decreases in sun for solar panels, main windows, and gardens. Given the Council’s push for more and denser housing in residential neighborhoods, shadowing standards are clearly needed in those areas too to shape development so that it doesn’t come at the expense of access to sunlight.  

To see the supplemental recommendations, click on Supplemental Material under Item 36 on the agenda for the October 26 meeting: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2021/10_Oct/City_Council__10-26-2021_-_Regular_Meeting_Agenda.aspx  

Berkeley has 3,000 roof top solar installations. This cuts down on our carbon footprint, provides resilience, and generates electricity. The combined effects of climate change, rolling blackouts, and the increase of electric cars means that roof top solar panels are the most efficient, most resilient answer for our own power. Don’t let the City jeopardize this valuable resource in the face of climate change. Don’t devalue resident’s investments in solar panels and food production. With reasonable setbacks and design adjustments, we can have more housing without reducing solar access.  

Thousands of years ago, Mayan pyramids and Stonehenge used the sun to guide their design. If our ancestors could do it, so can Berkeley architects using computerized design systems with built-in “shade studies” to accurately predict the loss of solar access created by any design.  

PROTECT SOLAR ACCESS FOR BERKELEY HOMES.  

More housing AND more solar energy. 

Berkeley Neighborhoods Council (BNC) 

Check out our website for up to date information and resources: 

berkeleyneighborhoodscouncil.com