One person's sustainable is another person's tacky

Minnesota homeowners who want to install solar panels on their roofs describe the panels as "cool," "forward," "space-age." But "unsightly" is another word that crops up often when they go before neighborhood association boards, some of which ban solar panels in their covenants.

It's a conflict that can put friendly neighbors in an awkward position of public disagreement, but one that is becoming more common as high energy prices and concern about global warming prompt more residents to pursue generating heat and electricity from the sun.

In Eagan, homeowner Bruce Goff lobbied state legislators to introduce a measure that would prevent community associations from banning solar panels. The proposed law, which is unlikely to pass this session, follows the example of half a dozen similar measures enacted in states such as Arizona, New Jersey and Florida.

Goff, who ran into complications with neighbors over a new set of solar panels on his roof, isn't alone. Woodbury resident Chuck Eckberg looked into a $12,000 solar-powered system last summer to heat water in his house in Eagle Valley, a neighborhood of 500 homes, but was chagrined to discover that his community association banned solar panels.

"It was all amiable, but somewhat ironic, since I sit on the board myself, and I had no idea we had a rule against them," Eckberg said.

"I'm kind of sheepish about it."

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