Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Solar Permitting topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
E‑board to seek carveout for rooftop solar from 3.5% special use tax, staff to draft memo
Summary
Carbondale’s environmental board discussed whether rooftop solar should be exempted from a 3.5% special-use tax and whether permit fees and inspections can be streamlined; members asked staff to gather peer-city practices and draft a memo to present to the trustees.
Carbondale’s Environmental Board agreed to pursue a recommendation to the Board of Trustees asking that certain rooftop solar equipment be excluded from the town’s 3.5% special‑use tax and to explore lowering permit fees for small residential systems.
Board members said the combined costs — a $200 permit fee plus a 3.5% use tax applied to building materials — are higher than neighboring municipalities’ practices and may discourage residential installations. An e‑board member cited Boulder’s faster, lower‑fee permitting approach as one model for streamlining review of small rooftop systems.
Staff said they will follow up with a municipal contact (Aaron Coons) and with the local utility’s FastTrack/interconnection program to establish where approvals can run in parallel and when documentation-based permitting (rather than routine in‑person inspections) is appropriate for small systems. The board emphasized it was not prepared to recommend eliminating required structural or electrical safety checks without further technical input.
The e‑board agreed that the most readily actionable option appears to be requesting a carveout from the special use tax for behind‑the‑meter renewable components below a defined size threshold, then returning to trustees with a draft memo and any recommended permitting reforms. No formal trustee action was taken at the meeting; the board asked staff to collect comparative permit fees, average staff review time, and clarification about inspection requirements to support the trustee memo.
Next steps: staff will gather peer permitting details and utility interconnection timelines; an e‑board member said they will draft a memo for the next e‑board meeting to be approved and forwarded to the trustees.
