The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Concerns aired over city hall solar project
HDC members have questions about effectiveness of panels
By Christine Laughren, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: October 9, 2008
A grant from the Department of Economic Growth and Development has been awarded for the project. The structural engineering design is scheduled to be complete within the week.
Advertisement
But there is one more key step to be taken before installation of solar panels on Ypsilanti's City Hall can begin — approval from the Ypsilanti Historic District Commission.
Meeting minutes from the Sep. 9 HDC meeting show some commissioners questioned the effectiveness and practicality of the panels as a demonstration project on the south wall of City Hall. Commissioners also raised concern over the maintenance of the 12 panels in the future.
Commissioner Christian Overland questioned whether there is a more applicable test site for the panels and Commissioner Ed Penet suggested HDC identify alternatives among city-owned properties that could offer as much visibility.
Planning for the project began approximately one year ago when resident Dave Strenski and then Department of Public Works Director Bill Bohlen began discussions of placing more solar panels in the City. Now, with the award of the $35,980 state grant in June, which was written site-specific for City Hall, the project is ready to move forward.
City Planner Richard Murphy said, however, that the HDC has some justifiable concerns as to the placement as well as the upkeep of the panels.
He said the State Historic Preservation Office is of the opinion that solar panels on Ypsilanti's City Hall are not appropriate. Murphy said Ypsilanti's commission is independent of SHIPO and the state office has no jurisdiction on the HDC.
"But (the City Hall solar project is) something that merits pretty good scrutiny to come up with a solid justification for it," Murphy said.
Ypsilanti's HDC is the only commission in the state to approve solar panels on a building, according to Murphy. That approval resulted in the installation of five panels on the roof of the Ypsilanti Food Co-op.
Murphy said if the solar panels could go on the roof of City Hall the Commission would approve the proposal in a minute. But City Hall's roof cannot support solar panels and the south wall of the three-story building, on the corner of Huron Street and Michigan Avenue, is the only viable option.
Strenski, who has been a big player in the solar panel projects within the city, said the structural design should be finished within the week and he hopes to be on next Tuesday's HDC meeting agenda for final approval.
He said he understands concerns raised by the Historic Commission but he also said he hasn't spoken with anybody in the community who does not like the project.
He said he is ecstatic about the grant awarded from the state, which will also contribute to seven additional panels being installed on the Co-op, and he hopes the HDC will have all the information it needs to make its decision Tuesday.
Strenski said after a year of working on the project he is ready for an answer from the Commission and he said he would be disappointed if the City Hall project was voted down.
"If (the (HDC) says 'no' I'll have to ask them why they waited a year to tell me that," he said.
City Council member Brian Robb agreed with Strenski.
"Dave has done a tremendous amount of work," Robb said. "I would hate to see this fall apart because people weren't up front a year ago."
Stenski said a green way of living is the future and Ypsilanti has already taken steps to be on the leading edge of alternative energy. He said the City Hall panels could serve as a "billboard" to get people thinking and educate them about reusable energy.
This could really put Ypsilanti on the map," Strenski said.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
