Tyler City Council to discuss amending restrictions on installation of solar panels

Jul. 27—Tyler City Council during its Wednesday meeting will consider changing an ordinance that restricts the installation of solar panels within city limits.

The current ordinance states that residential solar installations must be situated so that they are screened from view from public streets, Kyle Kingma, city of Tyler planning manager, said.

This week's meeting agenda mentions changing language in the Unified Development Code to address the placement of roof-mounted solar panels, Kingma said.

The meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Tyler City Hall, located at 212 N Bonner Ave.

This ordinance has recently prevented solar panel installation, said Rudy and Yvonne Wright, owners of Wright-Way Solar Technologies.

Wright-Way Solar Technologies have been installing solar panels since 2009 and have only recently encountered issues of denied permits in the city of Tyler, all in reference to this solar panel ordinance.

They were told that panels can not be installed if visible from any public street, Yvonne Wright said.

"By that metric, we simply cannot install solar in Tyler unless we have a customer that has some huge lot blocked by trees, which is not a common lot in an urban setting," she said.

Back in March updates to the ordinance were discussed but did not pass, and it was soon after this that permit approval issues began happening, Rudy Wright said.

"From the standpoint of, 'we need to be conserving and be mindful of our grid,' it makes no sense to say you can't have solar," She said. "From the standpoint of property rights and homeowner rights, I have the right to install whatever appliance I see fit in my home, and that's all solar really is, an appliance."

Rudy Wright said in the energy market, which is predominantly oil and gas, it's hard to get people to embrace solar.

Yvonne Wright said she and her husband are encouraging people to show up to the city council meeting this Wednesday to support their right to install solar panels at their homes. Their presence will show support, but if they wish to speak on the topic it will also be a big help.

"I would ask all who have a passion for renewable energy to help us defend our rights to the sun's energy," Rudy Wright said.