Key West leaders call new solar panel installation ‘an eyesore’

A few months before Key West’s new $19 million City Hall is set to open, two city commissioners say the solar panels there that double as carports in the parking lot have to go.

They’re ugly, say commissioners Margaret Romero and Richard Payne, who suggested relocation to the roof of the old Glynn Archer Elementary School gym behind the main building, 1300 White St.

“I’d like to see those solar panels relocated to rooftops,” Payne said, who called the panels “an ugly carport” and questioned whether they meet historic district zoning rules.

“We have created a carport that is not possible in” the historic district, said Payne, who brought up the matter two hours into Tuesday’s budget workshop at Old City Hall, 510 Greene St.

City Planning Director Thaddeus Cohen said rooftop installation of solar panels isn’t allowed in Old Town Key West because it’s deemed a “mechanical system,” and architect Bert Bender and city staff have already hashed out the matter.

One solar array — a gridwork of 1,620 square feet of solar panels atop a carport-type structure strong enough to withstand 180 mph winds — is already up behind the building that fronts 1300 White St. and a second one was approved by the commission in May.

“The equipment is already on site,” said Finance Director Mark Finigan, who said it’s too late to move the second array.

Romero, whose district includes the new City Hall, wasn’t budging.

“It needs a lot of discussion,” Romero said. “We need to at least listen to people. If the rules weren’t followed by someone who should have known better, someone needs to be held accountable.”

Each array costs $343,300, of which $240,000 came from Keys Energy Services to help pay for solar capability.

City leaders’ insistence that the arrays, which city staff says are the largest installation of its kind in Key West, are ugly sparked outrage on social media from locals.

“They can build a coal power plant on the empty space instead,” Hank Allen posted on Facebook.

“Ridiculous,” wrote Jessica Patton Pellegrino. “When I see solar panels, I think ‘progress,’ not aesthetics.”

Commission Billy Wardlow agreed with Romero and Payne, but said it’s a waste of money to tear out the solar array already planted. Future plans, though, can be changed, he said.

“We can always reverse what we’ve approved,” Wardlow said.

This story was originally published July 23, 2016 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Key West leaders call new solar panel installation ‘an eyesore’."