By Eliza Ridgeway

town crier file photo Los Altos Hills offers bonuses as incentives to homeowners who install roof-mounted solar panels.

The Los Altos Hills City Council approved another solar-power ordinance June 22, offering a development bonus of up to 500 square feet to homeowners who install roof-mounted solar panels on new homes or remodels.

The bonus, which extends a property’s maximum development area, would permit the construction of a deck, pool or other feature on a maxed-out parcel. The bonus does not affect maximum allowable floor area.

Critics of the ordinance, including Councilman Jean Mordo and resident environmental activist Dot Shreiner, worried that the town was using the wrong means to promote solar.

“To benefit the environment, we in fact damage the environment by allowing more development in town,” Mordo said. “Why don’t we just give a cash bonus?”

Mordo was the only dissenting vote on the measure, which passed the council 3-1. Councilman Breene Kerr recused himself because of his business background in solar systems.

The ordinance as approved contains a 7-year sunset clause, setting the development bonus to expire in 2013. A staff report is required in one year. The ordinance was rewritten to require residents to complete installation before utilizing the bonus.

The staff report on the ordinance described increased storm-water runoff (from increased hardscape development) as the most significant potential impact of a development increase. The report stated that the average maximum developed area would still encompass only about 35 percent of a parcel. Properties with nonconforming levels of development would not be eligible for the bonus. The report calculated that 75 percent to 80 percent of the lots in town could qualify for a solar bonus.

The other solar incentives passed by the council this year include free building permits for solar installation, counting a home’s solar energy toward required energy efficiency standards, and exempting up to 500 square feet of solar panels from a parcel’s maximum development area. The new ordinance stipulates that a home cannot receive more than one 500-foot total increase in development area, whether through exempted solar arrays or the new development bonus.