A Flower Mound homeowner’s association is dropping its lawsuit against a resident who installed solar panels on his house after a survey showed most owners had no problem with the devices, the association’s lawyer said Thursday.
Furthermore, the association will no longer enforce the rule barring solar panels, said Charles Spencer, an attorney for the Wellington Homeowners Association.
“This one is over,” Spencer said. “(The homeowner) got everything he wanted. He should be happy.”
The association filed the lawsuit after some residents complained the solar panels were an eyesore and violated rules designed to keep up property values.
At the same time, neighborhood leaders sent a survey to residents to measure opinions on the issue.
The survey showed 69 percent of the respondents said roof-mounted solar panels should be allowed, 29 percent said they should not, and two percent had no opinion.
A slightly smaller number said they would purchase a home with solar panels.
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About 30 percent of the association’s 2,300 residents responded to the survey, the association said.
The homeowner, who spoke under the condition that his name not be used, said he considered the panels “beautiful” and said association leaders had no business trying to ban environmentally friendly power.
“You can’t fight efficiency and doing the right thing for our country,” he said in an interview last month.
The panels are on his back roof, but they are clearly visible from a popular walking trail that runs right behind his house.
"Absolutely, it's an eyesore," neighbor Shelly Leih said. “If he wants to do something like that, I think he should move into a field."
The association’s lawyer said Thursday he had sent a letter to the judge asking that the case be dismissed.
“Frankly, I didn’t want to sue him,” Spencer said. “(But) he clearly violated the restrictive covenants.”
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