Fox Chapel amends ordinance to make it easier to use solar panels

Fox Chapel Council has made it easier for property owners to have solar panels.

Council unanimously amended its ordinance on Oct. 17 to make roof-mounted panels at the front of the house a permitted use instead of a conditional one.

A conditional use meant property owners had to go before the planning commission, pay a fee and eventually have council approve the installation.

Now, a property owner just has to notify borough code enforcement officials and get a permit to install the panels.

The borough already permits solar panels on the sides or the rear of a house.

Councilwoman Mandy Steele had been pushing for lighter restrictions.

She and her colleagues approved advertising the proposed change in August.

Council had a public hearing prior to voting on the amendment this month. No one spoke out against the proposed changes.

“Making clean energy systems more accessible to our residents is a worthy pursuit, and I am grateful for my fellow council members support on this initiative,” Steele said. “Renewable solar systems can lower electric bills, increase home value and significantly lower carbon emissions.”

Ground-mounted solar panels are still a conditional use in Fox Chapel. They must be located in a side or rear yard only, not exceed eight feet in height above the ground and be fully screened from adjacent properties by fencing or a combination of evergreen and deciduous plants.

Solar panels exceeding four square feet are not permitted in any front yard, on any face of a building or structure facing a street unless integrated into the ordinary construction of the building or structure. The only solar panels allowed in view of any adjacent street are roof-mounted solar panels.

The ordinance is available for review at the borough office or online at fox-chapel.pa.us.

In other business

Council appointed Nicholas Muller, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and Jeffrey Cohen, an IT consultant, to six-year terms with the park commission expiring Dec. 31, 2029.

Police Chief Michael Stevens announced his department received eight new portable radios from the Allegheny County Department of Emergency Services. The radios were reportedly worth about $4,000 each.

The purchases were made by the county with money from the American Rescue Plan Act, according to Allegheny County.

The Fox Chapel Volunteer Fire Department also received eight radios through the same program, and the borough got one for its emergency management coordinator.