In a city that prides itself for its "green" efforts, it's no surprise that a proposal by council members Robert Garcia and Patrick O'Donnell to have City Manager Pat West examine how Long Beach can reduce its permitting fees for residential solar panels was met with enthusiastic support.
The council on Tuesday night unanimously approved the recommendation, which stemmed from a Sierra Club study of how much California cities charge for solar panel permits. Long Beach charges $599, which is far below the $750 amount that the Sierra Club said was an exhorbitant charge and that some cities even exceed. Still, it wasn't at the $324 level that the Sierra Club says is all it should cost for cities to recover their expenses.
Read an article about that Sierra Club study here.
Paul Eakins reports on Long Beach City Hall, and local and regional
politics. A newcomer to the Press-
Kris Hanson reports on the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles,
covering environmental issues, economic triumphs and
pitfalls and trade trends of America’s largest port.
He also writes a weekly column “On The Waterfront”,
appearing Tuesdays, and also produces an occassional video
and column titled “On The Job,” which follows the hard-working
men and women who keep Southern California’s economy humming.
Karen Robes Meeks came to work for the Press-
I had solar panels installed on my house in Cal Heights in Long Beach. My contractor took care of all the paperwork and didn't mention anything about the cost of the permit. The only hold up in the process was the people at the historic perservation society.
The Robinson Solar people gave me such a great price, it wasn't the cost of the system for me it was the time required for approval.
If they sped up the process, I'm sure a lot of my neighbors would have gone through with having systems installed too.