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City o / ,I/tn g L�L3 INCORPORATED JANUARY 24, 1957
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NO. 2 PORTUGUESE BEND ROAD
ROLLING HILLS, CALIF. 90274
(310) 377-1521
FAX: (310) 377.7288
November 20, 2013
Mr. Stanley Levine
52 Saddleback Road
Rolling Hills, CA 90274
RE: Solar panel fees
Dear Mr. Levine,
We have received your inquiry regarding City's fees for issuance of permits for
rooftop solar panels. You have expressed that you were charged more than what the
law allows under Senate Bill No. 1222, and that the Rolling Hills Community
Association wants to charge you additional fee.
Following my conversation with you, I obtained the City Attorney's opinion on this
issue. I also spoke with the Los Angeles County Building and Safety Supervising
Engineer regarding their fees for issuance of permits for solar panels. As you know
the County Building Department acts as City's agent in issuing building permits.
According to the City Attorney SB 1222 clearly applies to the City and County of LA
and therefore the $500 cap would apply to the City's and County's residential permit
fee for all charges directly related to the application for a rooftop solar energy
system. However, the law does not apply to private entities. Associations such as
RHCA are regulated by the Davis -Sterling Act and an association is defined as " a
nonprofit corporation or unincorporated association". The law therefore, by its
terms, only applies to cities, counties and charter cities.
According to the County Engineer, an upgrade of an electric panel is not considered
an integral part of the overall application for a solar panel system, as it is only
necessary to upgrade an electric panel in some situations and not every time a solar
system is installed, and is therefore not subject to the $500 cap.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at 310 377-1521 or
via email at ys@cityofrh.net.
Sincer
Yol?'yita Schwartz, Plar ng Director
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