LAKE COUNTY >> A bill on the governor”s desk that would require jurisdictions to streamline permitting processes for residential rooftop solar energy systems is expected to have little effect on Lake County”s Building Department, which already holds a good track record for providing quick turnaround on solar system permits at low costs.
Surrounding jurisdictions also report having already streamlined their residential solar system permitting and bringing down costs in recent years. In other words, Lake County is ahead of the state.
Assembly Bill 2188 would require all local governments to adopt a solar ordinance that eases the permitting process and provides a single, coordinated inspection, if multiple inspections are required. Residential solar system inspections must be completed in a “timely manner” and the bill would also prohibit a jurisdiction from conditioning approval of permits on the prior approval of a system by an association managing a common interest development.
The bill, authored by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, builds on the California Solar Rights Act, adopted in 1987, that declared implementation of statewide standards to achieve the timely and cost-effective installation of solar energy systems is not a municipal affair, but instead a matter of statewide concern. According to a fact sheet provided by Muratsuchi”s office, the “soft costs” of solar system installations, which include permitting costs, can comprise more than 50 percent of the total installation costs.
A permit in Lake County, however, currently costs $141, and the fee is likely to remain the same as the county doesn”t have to deal with as large of a volume of building permit applications, compared to larger jurisdictions, and can therefore process applications at a faster pace. According to Community Development Director Richard Coel, the department also already made some revisions at the beginning of the year to ensure work loads were distributed to make permitting processing as efficient as possible.
“It”s a very high priority to keep building permitting processes streamlined,” Coel said of the county”s development department. “Ever since I can remember in the last 20 years we”ve managed to provide building inspections next day for people that call in Monday through Thursday. Our two building inspectors are doing a lot of driving but we”ve been able to manage that.”
The only foreseeable hang up with the legislation is the requirement for jurisdictions to put permitting documentation and electronic signature acceptance on websites, a feature that is not currently possible through Lake County”s software. However, the rule can be bypassed with the submission of a statement providing the reasons for a jurisdiction”s inability to accept electronic signatures.
“The system we use to issue permits is antiquated and very expensive to update,” Coel said. “If we can make the justification for it, it”s just a matter of having the time to have someone spend half a day writing that out.”
Other area communities see costs near to Lake County”s, or higher. In Willits, permits for residential solar systems also cost around $150, according to Building Official John Sherman. But with such a small jurisdiction to serve, Willits” one-man building permits department only has to issue around six permits total a week. There”s no need for a more streamlined process, Sherman said.
Santa Rosa also underwent a cost study within the last few years and, by applying time allocation to more effectively reflect the effort required for each type of permit, the cost for dropped from $210 to $165 as of March 23, Santa Rosa Permit Intake Manager Jesse Oswald said.
Ukiah”s permit fees are higher, running between $300 and $400, according to Katrina Ballard of the city”s Planning and Community Development Department. The department did not provide a comment by press time on whether streamlining permit processes could reduce the fee.
The number of permit applications for residential solar systems continues to increase.
Coel, who said he”s seen the demand for the permits go up in the last three to four years, attributes the increase in demand to the number of rebates offered by the state and federal government, the fact that solar is getting less costly to produce and the press in the last couple of years that note PG&E rates are on the rise.
Santa Rosa is currently receiving 10 or more solar permit applications in a given week, a number that”s gone up in the last year and half when it was seeing three to five permit applications per week, Oswald stated.
Fresh Energy Systems, a renewable energy contracting company in Clearlake, has also seen an increase in demand for solar energy. However, a bigger demand in the past few years is customers who lease their roofs to energy companies, which are the party required to obtain permits through building departments, according to the company”s director of operations, Daniel Felperin.
As opposed to other jurisdictions whose permits can cost more than $800, Lake County”s permits remain minimal for solar customers.
