Grosse Pointe Shores Planning Commission Discusses Solar Panels

Grosse Pointe Shores Planning Commission plans to pursue an ordinance regulating solar panels after city officials alerted them to a request by a Hawthorne Road resident. 

The resident applied to the building department to structurally modify the house in order insert solar panels on the home's south-facing roof, building clerk Tom Krolczyk said. 

City Manager Brian Vick told the commission members he believes taking action now to create an ordinance will be a proactive move before the city is flooded with requests as more and more homeowners move toward using solar panels. 

Although there are individual solar panels in use on other properties in Grosse Pointe Shores, Krolczyk said the recent application for a building permit is the first of its kind involving solar panels. A permit is required because the construction requires that a significant portion of the roof be removed, he said.

Commission members discussed the aesthetic concerns about solar panels and whether or not requirements should be imposed about where on a home solar panels could be installed.

Commission member Patrick McCarroll said he believes the ordinance should be written from a safety perspective rather than straight aesthetics. Solar panels gather energy and that could be a risk for firefighters in the event of an emergency, for example, he said. 

Krolczyk said that is one of the first issues to be explored and researched for installation and explained city employees had already begun looking into some of those issues. 

The commission gave city employees the go-ahead to research it further and Vick is to review ordinances from other municipalities, including the other Pointes. The information will be reported back to the planning commission for review. If the planning commission passes an ordinance, it must still go before the City Council for the ultimate approval. 

Krolczyk said the pending building permit will likely be approved before a formal ordinance is in place but many different officials are reviewing the plans to ensure its safety, stability and more, he said. The fire marshal and the electrical inspector are among those reviewing it, he said.

He wants to ensure that if a firefighter has to ax his way through that home's roof in the middle of the night, it won't be putting that emergency worker at any additional risk than what is normally expected, he said.

In other business, the commission also approved a plan by the to expand a corner of the private club's pool deck.

The expansion is about 7 feet in depth and will allow a gazebo that serves as a bar for an outdoor dining area to serve people from all sides rather than just half of the gazebo, Krolczyk said.

The planning commission's recommendation to approve the expansion will go before the City Council May 3 during one of its committee-of-the-whole meetings, during which they will call a formal meeting to vote on this issue alone and then resume the less formal meeting, Vick said.