Invade in the Shade

Trees win in California solar panels vs. redwoods dispute 9

Trees have emerged victorious in a California dispute that pitted redwoods against solar panels. Six months ago, Silicon Valley residents Richard Treanor and Carolynn Bissett were criminally convicted because their redwoods shaded the 10-kilowatt solar system on neighbor Mark Vargas' roof. Ultimately, Treanor and Bissett were forced to trim their trees and paid $37,000 in legal fees. To avert future disputes, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signed a new law that holds that if trees were planted before solar panels were installed, the solar-panel owner cannot force the trees to be trimmed or chopped. If the solar panels came first, a civil lawsuit can be filed, but the law disallows criminal prosecution of folks with foliage. The original incident ain't over yet, though: Vargas has sued Treanor and Bissett again, alleging not only that their trees shade his solar panels, but that the trees' roots damage an underground storm drain and that their row of redwoods violates state laws that disallow spite fences.

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  1. treestump Posted 6:24 am
    23 Jul 2008

    lack of sunshine for my "SOUL"AR panelsi looked into solar panels last year and after a lot of online and person to person interviews found that as of yet solar panels were still not economicaly viable. but aside from that if your going to put up the panels dont you think you might go outside and look at your roof and see if the area in question is sun worthy these units are not cheap. Now you have an angry neighbor and some expensive solar panels that wont get as much sun as they might have gotten if you had planned it differently.  you might have started by talking to your neighbor as people would do in any community.  you know try to work something out I dont think he will cut any of his trees down for a long time NOW

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  2. Kelpie's avatar

    Kelpie Posted 8:09 am
    23 Jul 2008

    put solar panels in the trees!My neighbors have tall douglas fir trees that shade their house. They hired a tree climber to install the panels in the trees using hardware designed to build tree houses. Problem solved!

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  3. catman Posted 10:46 am
    23 Jul 2008

    Would you betWould you bet that Kelpie and treestump missed the memo that requires you to call a lawyer whenever some dispute arises?  
    People who know how to work together can get quite a bit done without their lawyers. Imagine if Treanor, Bisset and Vargas worked together to solve their problem. Those beautiful redwoods, solar panels installed, would enrich all three and maybe Treanor and Bisset could have installed some of their own and that would have enriched the rest of us, too.

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  4. Delay And Deny's avatar

    Delay And Deny Posted 11:44 am
    23 Jul 2008

    My NirvanaA world where alternative energy nuts and tree huggers come to blows!?  It's a win-win situation as far as I'm concerned.   I say plow down both of them and put in town homes with coal fired boilers.

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  5. Tasermons Partner Posted 11:49 am
    23 Jul 2008

    Kind odd......they knew the trees were there, they (should've) known that the tress (bein' redwoods) would grow tall...why put solar panels in their shade?
    Kinda reminds me of the people who plant palm trees down here around their power lines to make 'em look nice...but then ten tears later, the palms grow into the lines and ruin 'em the first storm that passes through.

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  6. treestump Posted 1:19 pm
    23 Jul 2008

    dear catmandidnt miss the memo just thought they may have taken a more evolved stance toward the planning aspect of their solar panel project.

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  7. PermieWriter's avatar

    PermieWriter Posted 2:57 am
    24 Jul 2008

    Look before you leapThere's an excellent tool that would have prevented this unneighborly behavior: the Solar Pathfinder. GreenEngineer discovered it when he was working with solar, and it's continued to be useful in our gardening ("Hey, if we plant this cherry tree a foot over, it will get sun from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and November through January and then 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. February through October!" "Get the shovel.")
    It's also very good at it's first purpose, figuring out where to put your solar panels and how much sun they'll get when you put them there. It's a little tricky to learn to use, but it's well worth it. Of course, if you hire a good solar outfit they'll check for you.

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  8. mtvyfan's avatar

    mtvyfan Posted 6:13 am
    24 Jul 2008

    I wonder how Judge Judy would rule on this caseProbably would tell the guy with the panels to grow up and get a life! Nature should never pay the price for human stupidity, nor should our animal brothers and sisters, but we live in a world with idiots like this guy.
    To quote "Love Boat Captain" by Pearl Jam
    Is this just another phase? earthquakes making waves,...

    Trying to shake the cancer off? stupid human beings,...

    Once you hold the hand of love,.. its all surmountable.
    Wow, isn't that true!

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  9. daisyalea Posted 7:15 am
    24 Jul 2008

    Litigation happyEven though he "won" Vargas is now suing them a second time for "spite fencing" and underground storm drain damage... this isn't about shade, trees or alternative energy - this is about a vindictive person using the legal system to get back at his neighbors.  Having gone through a similar suit myself, when people don't get their exact way, they can be ultra-litigious just to get 'revenge.'  This is obviously what Vargas intends with the multiple suits.  Makes me sad, especially considering the trees were there long before the solar panels.  He deserves a whap upside the head.

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