Tega Cay satellite dish owners may get a needed rule change. Thank solar panels.

It could impact anyone wanting to watch satellite television in Tega Cay, or is interested in adding solar panels. So, planners want to get it right before setting new rules and testing their reception.

It all started with an uptick in residential solar panel requests.

“There’s very little direction that we can provide them,” said Susan Britt, city planning and development manager.

City code is “really silent” on the issue of solar panel installations, she said. An amendment was proposed detailing location and placement guidelines, the use of non-reflective surfaces, differences between roof-mounted and ground-mounted units. It laid out differences in a solar installation, for home use, and a solar farm intended to generate more power.

“We had one house where, in my mind I thought, ‘this is a little more than they probably need,’” Britt said of a nine-panel setup. “We had nothing in the code to address it.”

Solar panels already require building permits, but there are no location guidelines on a property. Along with aesthetic concerns, issues like fencing and location can be safety concerns on par with rules for swimming pools. The new rules aim to address all those concerns.

“There’s some reasons for that, and we just have to make the case for it,” said Jerry Church, city planning commission chairman.

The first time his group tried to make the case, satellites got in the way.

City code on satellite dishes and radio and television antennas dates back to when satellite dishes were the size of large patio table umbrellas. They are listed as needing special use permits, which involves a $350 fee and approval by the city board of zoning appeals. Not that anyone in the city recalls paying that fee or going that route. Until recently, the rule went largely unnoticed.

“I’ve had satellites changed out several times,” Church said. “I’ve never paid any fees.”

The new changes would list satellites and antennae as accessory units — like other municipalities nearby — which city administration could approve without the fee. Yet when planners first tried to communicate the plan to Tega Cay City Council, there was confusion.

Council tabled the ordinance changes March 20 to give the planning commission more time to work out details. Council had concerns all the the satellite and solar rules were new.

At that meeting, Councilman Ryan Richard called proposed regulations “a bit over the top” and said the city isn’t “in position to play HOA.”

“I just think having staff driving around looking for satellite dishes and solar panels on the wrong side of house is a complete waste of time,” he said.

Councilwoman Jennifer Stalford said on the way to that March 20 meeting she saw maybe five houses with satellite dishes in front yards and doubts any of the homeowners went through the zoning board to get them. Stalford doesn’t “see that we need to be regulating all these things” and believes many of the requirements are unenforceable. She also wonders where the city would draw lines.

“Where are we going to start or stop regulating what people do in their front yards?” she asked.

Councilman David O’Neal said Monday, during a planning commission meeting to review Council comments, he understands why there was confusion. But now he understands only the solar installation section involves new regulations.

“We’ll bring it back (on a Council agenda),” he said. “It was unclear.”

Planning commission Vice Chairman Chris Leonard believes initial Council concerns — too much government interference, unenforceable rules — actually are the opposite of what planners are proposing.

“This is less government, and I think that’s the point that was being missed,” he said.

Now that the old satellite and antennae rules are in the spotlight, nonconforming installations could be subject to fines. Changing those rules along with the addition on solar panels could protect homeowners with dishes now.

Which leaves the city looking at the sun.

There has been an increase in solar requests of late. More on roofs than in ground-mounted arrangements. The city wants to protect everyone from homeowners nearby who may not want to see solar panels on the street-facing side of the home, to drivers who might catch a glare from the reflection.

The proposed rules are largely similar to what Rock Hill has in place. Fort Mill has its own solar panel rules.

O’Neal said it’s an important issue to consider, even if guidelines on solar panels could soon enough go the way of those massive home satellite dishes.

“I believe in a few years these big panels may become obsolete,” he said. “The (solar) shingles are what’s really going to take over.”

This story was originally published April 11, 2017 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Tega Cay satellite dish owners may get a needed rule change. Thank solar panels.."