A city of Santa Clarita property owner claimed a win Tuesday in an appellate court’s ruling over his yearslong battle with the city, which sought to force the removal of the thousands of solar panels visible from Soledad Canyon Road that many considered a public nuisance.
This week, a three-judge panel in the 2nd District in the Court of Appeal of the State of California disagreed.
“The trial court’s judgment that the solar facility constitutes a nuisance is reversed as to the portion of the facility inside the mobile home park, but affirmed as to the solar panels installed on the adjacent property,” according to the ruling.
The opinion published Tuesday notes that only 0.02% of the more than 6,500 panels installed by the park are on the adjacent property.
“Because the landowners did not prove their equitable estoppel defense with respect to the solar panels on the adjacent property, the city does not have to compensate the landowners to compel removal. Each party to bear their own costs on appeal,” was the second half of the judgment.
The city declined to comment on the opinion Tuesday.
Property owner Kerry Seidenglanz said in a phone interview Tuesday that he plans to seek out a permit from the city in order to have the other panels installed.
“Hey, solar is a great thing,” Seidenglanz said Tuesday, “for the world and for our electrical grid. And all the power is either being consumed in the community or it’s going back on the grid for other people to use it.”
When asked if the panels were generating a profit for the park owner, he said, “They’re generating power for my community.”
Seidenglanz also said Tuesday he has had six previous legal cases presided over by Superior Court Judge Stephen Pfahler, and each one ended the same way: He lost on the original ruling and then won on appeal.
Regardless of the outcome, the judgment comes with a hefty cost for both sides, since each was ordered to pay their own legal costs.
The city estimated its cost for the case at well over $1 million as of August 2023.
