11 ATTACHMENT 04 - Laserfiche WebLink

There is no State law which provides an existing property owner solar rights to prevent an adjacent property owner from building a structure which affects a solar array. The State Solar Shade Control Act (CA Public Resources Code sections 25980 et. al., Attachment #3) does provide certain protections to solar collectors (e.g., PV panels or solar water heating panels) from the shading effects of trees or shrubs provided certain conditions are met. For instance, the solar collector must be set back at least 5 feet from a property line and located at least 10-feet above grade, except that a solar collector may be less than 10 feet in height if the solar collector is set back 5 feet from the property line plus an additional three times the amount lowered below 10 feet. It is unclear if Mr. Walterson's PV panels comply with the setback requirements. Assuming they did, Mr. Walterson would be protected from the installation of future trees or shrubs on the adjacent properties if they were to cast a shadow greater than 10 percent of the collector absorption area at any one time between the hours of 10:00 am and 2:00 pm, local standard time. Staff notes that any violation of the Solar Shade Control Act would be a civil (private) matter between property owners and the City would not be responsible for enforcing. Although there are no State laws applicable to the proposed structures' affects on Mr. Walterson's PV panels, staff requested the applicant provide a shadow study which would show the shading of the proposed homes located immediately west of Mr. Walterson's PV panels. The applicant provided a shadow study (Attachment #3) for the proposed front yard trees and for the proposed homes. The shadow study indicates the shading at 2:00 p.m. on the day of the year when the sun reaches its lowest level, December 21st, thereby casting the longest shadows. The study shows there would be no shading impacts from the proposed front yard trees. The study shows there would be some, but minimal, shading impacts from the proposed buildings (staff notes that the shading on the neighbor's roof is shown as the hatched area and that the western PV panel array does not extend to the edges of the roof). PUD FINDINGS Please refer to the attached Planning Commission staff report, pages 22-25, for a discussion of the considerations needed to approve the proposed PUD development plan. PUBLIC NOTICE Notice regarding the proposed project and related City Council public hearing were mailed to property owners and tenants within 1,000 feet of the subject property and was also published in the local newspaper. At the time this report was written, the Pleasanton Heritage Association (PHA) had updated its original comment letter to indicate that it opposes removal of the 12 heritage trees from the site (please see attachment #4). Public comments received in response to the Planning Commission public hearing notice have also been attached to this report (Attachments 6 and 7). ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT A Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was approved by the City Council for the Downtown Specific Plan in conformance with the standards of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Page 6 of 8