564A.1 PURPOSE.
It is the purpose of this chapter to facilitate the orderly
development and use of solar energy by establishing and providing
certain procedures for obtaining access to solar energy. Section History: Early Form
[81 Acts, ch 184, § 3]
564A.2 DEFINITIONS.
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Development of property" means construction, landscaping,
growth of vegetation, or other alteration of property that interferes
with the operation of a solar collector.
2. "Dominant estate" means that parcel of land to which the
benefits of a solar access easement attach.
3. "Servient estate" means land burdened by a solar access
easement, other than the dominant estate.
4. "Solar access easement" means an easement recorded under
section 564A.7, the purpose of which is to provide continued access
to incident sunlight necessary to operate a solar collector.
5. "Solar access regulatory board" means the board designated
by a city council or county board of supervisors under section 564A.3
to receive and act on applications for a solar access easement or in
the absence of a specific designation, the district court having
jurisdiction in the area where the dominant estate is located.
Notwithstanding chapter 602 the jurisdiction of the district court
established in this subsection may be exercised by district associate
judges.
6. "Solar collector" means a device or structural feature of
a building that collects solar energy and that is part of a system
for the collection, storage, and distribution of solar energy. For
purposes of this chapter, a greenhouse is a solar collector.
7. "Solar energy" means energy emitted from the sun and
collected in the form of heat or light by a solar collector. Section History: Early Form
[81 Acts, ch 184, § 4]
564A.3 DESIGNATION.
The city council or the county board of supervisors may designate
a solar access regulatory board to receive and act on applications
for a solar access easement. The board designated by the city
council may be a board of adjustment having jurisdiction in the city,
the city council itself, or any board with at least three members.
The board designated by the county board of supervisors may be a
board of adjustment having jurisdiction in the county, the board of
supervisors itself, or any other board with at least three members.
The jurisdiction of a board designated by the city council extends to
applications when the dominant estate is located in the city. The
jurisdiction of a board designated by the county board of supervisors
extends to applications when the dominant estate is located in the
county but outside the city limits of a city. In the absence of the
designation of a specific board under this section, the district
court having jurisdiction in the area where the dominant estate is
located shall receive and act on applications submitted under section
564A.4 and to that extent shall serve as the solar access regulatory
board for purposes of this chapter. Notwithstanding chapter 602 the
jurisdiction of the district court established in this section may be
exercised by district associate judges. Section History: Early Form
[81 Acts, ch 184, § 5]
Referred to in § 564A.2, 564A.4
564A.4 APPLICATION FOR SOLAR ACCESS EASEMENT.
1. An owner of property may apply to the solar access regulatory
board designated under section 564A.3 for an order granting a solar
access easement. The application must be filed before installation
or construction of the solar collector. The application shall state
the following:
a. A statement of the need for the solar access easement by
the owner of the dominant estate.
b. A legal description of the dominant and servient estates.
c. The name and address of the dominant and servient estate
owners of record.
d. A description of the solar collector to be used.
e. The size and location of the collector, including heights,
its orientation with respect to south, and its slope from the
horizontal shown either by drawings or in words.
f. An explanation of how the applicant has done everything
reasonable, taking cost and efficiency into account, to design and
locate the collector in a manner to minimize the impact on
development of servient estates.
g. A legal description of the solar access easement which is
sought and a drawing that is a spatial representation of the area of
the servient estate burdened by the easement illustrating the degrees
of the vertical and horizontal angles through which the easement
extends over the burdened property and the points from which those
angles are measured.
h. A statement that the applicant has attempted to
voluntarily negotiate a solar access easement with the owner of the
servient estate and has been unsuccessful in obtaining the easement
voluntarily.
i. A statement that the space to be burdened by the solar
access easement is not obstructed at the time of filing of the
application by anything other than vegetation that would shade the
solar collector.
2. Upon receipt of the application the solar access regulatory
board shall determine whether the application is complete and
contains the information required under subsection 1. The board may
return an application for correction of any deficiencies. Upon
acceptance of an application the board shall schedule a hearing. The
board shall cause a copy of the application and a notice of the
hearing to be served upon the owners of the servient estates in the
manner provided for service of original notice and at least twenty
days prior to the date of the hearing. The notice shall state that
the solar access regulatory board will determine whether and to what
extent a solar access easement will be granted, that the board will
determine the compensation that may be awarded to the servient estate
owner if the solar access easement is granted and that the servient
estate owner has the right to contest the application before the
board.
3. The applicant shall pay all costs incurred by the solar access
regulatory board in copying and mailing the application and notice.
4. An application for a solar access easement submitted to the
district court acting as the solar access regulatory board under this
chapter is not subject to the small claims procedures under chapter
631. Section History: Early Form
[81 Acts, ch 184, § 6]
Referred to in § 564A.3
564A.5 DECISION.
1. After the hearing on the application, the solar access
regulatory board shall determine whether to issue an order granting a
solar access easement. The board shall grant a solar access easement
if the board finds that there is a need for the solar collector, that
the space burdened by the easement was not obstructed by anything
except vegetation that would shade the solar collector at the time of
filing of the application, that the proposed location of the
collector minimizes the impact of the easement on the development of
the servient estate and that the applicant tried and failed to
negotiate a voluntary easement. However, the board may refuse to
grant a solar access easement upon a finding that the easement would
require the removal of trees that provide shade or a windbreak to a
residence on the servient estate. The board shall not grant a solar
access easement upon a servient estate if the board finds that the
owner, at least six months prior to the filing of the application,
has made a substantial financial commitment to build a structure that
will shade the solar collector. In issuing its order granting the
solar access easement, the board may modify the solar access easement
applied for and impose conditions on the location of the solar
collector that will minimize the impact upon the servient estate.
2. The solar access regulatory board shall grant a solar access
easement only within the area that is within three hundred feet of
the center of the northernmost boundary of the collector and is south
of a line drawn east and west tangent to the northernmost boundary of
the collector.
3. The solar access regulatory board shall determine the amount
of compensation that is to be paid to the owners of the servient
estate for the impairment of the right to develop the property.
Compensation shall be based on the difference between the fair market
value of the property prior to and after granting the solar access
easement. The parties shall be notified of the board's decision
within thirty days of the date of the hearing. The owner of the
dominant estate shall have thirty days from the date of notification
of the board's decision to deposit the compensation with the board.
Upon receipt of the compensation, the board shall issue an order
granting the solar access easement to the owner of the dominant
estate and remit the compensation awarded to the owners of the
servient estate. The owner of the dominant estate may decline to
deposit the compensation with the board, and no order granting the
solar access easement shall then be issued.
4. When the order granting the solar access easement is issued,
the owner of the dominant estate shall have it recorded in the office
of the county recorder who shall record the solar access easement and
list the owner of the dominant estate as grantee and the owner of the
servient estate as grantor in the deed index. The solar access
easement after being recorded shall be considered an easement
appurtenant in or on the servient estate. Section History: Early Form
[81 Acts, ch 184, § 7]
Referred to in § 564A.6
564A.6 REMOVAL OF EASEMENT.
The owner of a servient estate may apply to the solar access
regulatory board or may petition the district court for an order
removing a solar access easement granted by a solar access regulatory
board under this chapter under any of the following conditions:
1. If the solar collector is not installed and made operational
within two years of recording the easement under section 564A.5.
2. If the dominant estate owner ceases to use the solar collector
for more than one year.
3. If the solar collector is destroyed or removed and not
replaced within one year.
The procedure for filing an application with the solar access
regulatory board under this section and for notice and hearings on
the application shall be the same as that prescribed for an
application for granting a solar access easement. An order issued by
the district court or a solar access regulatory board removing a
solar access easement may provide for the return by the servient
estate owner of compensation paid by the dominant estate owner for
the solar access easement after the deduction of reasonable expenses
incurred by the servient estate owner in proceedings for the granting
and removal of the easement. Section History: Early Form
[81 Acts, ch 184, § 8]
564A.7 SOLAR ACCESS EASEMENTS.
1. Persons, including public bodies, may voluntarily agree to
create a solar access easement. A solar access easement whether
obtained voluntarily or pursuant to the order of a solar access
regulatory board is subject to the same recording and conveyance
requirements as other easements.
2. A solar access easement shall be created in writing and shall
include the following:
a. The legal description of the dominant and servient
estates.
b. A legal description of the space which must remain
unobstructed expressed in terms of the degrees of the vertical and
horizontal angles through which the solar access easement extends
over the burdened property and the points from which these angles are
measured.
3. In addition to the items required in subsection 2 the solar
access easement may include, but the contents are not limited to, the
following:
a. Any limitations on the growth of existing and future
vegetation or the height of buildings or other potential obstructions
of the solar collector.
b. Terms or conditions under which the solar access easement
may be abandoned or terminated.
c. Provisions for compensating the owner of the property
benefiting from the solar access easement in the event of
interference with the enjoyment of the solar access easement, or for
compensating the owner of the property subject to the solar access
easement for maintaining that easement. Section History: Early Form
[81 Acts, ch 184, § 9]
Referred to in § 564A.2
564A.8 RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS.
City councils and county boards of supervisors may include in
ordinances relating to subdivisions a provision prohibiting deeds for
property located in new subdivisions from containing restrictive
covenants that include unreasonable restrictions on the use of solar
collectors. Section History: Early Form
[81 Acts, ch 184, § 10]
564A.9 ASSISTANCE TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT BODIES AND THE
PUBLIC.
The department of natural resources shall make available
information and guidelines to assist local government bodies and the
public to understand and use the provisions of this chapter. The
information and guidelines shall include an application form for a
solar access easement, instructions and aids for preparing and
recording solar access easements and model ordinances that promote
reasonable access to solar energy. Section History: Early Form
[81 Acts, ch 184, § 11]