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May 25, 2013 I Volume 7 I Issue 10 <br />Zoning Bulletin <br />District. It found that the plain language of § 180-25(A) of the Zoning <br />Ordinance stated that solar energy units were permitted as an "acces- <br />sory use" in any zone. Under the Zoning Ordinance, "accessory use" <br />was defined as "[a] subordinate use or building customarily incidental <br />to, and located on the same lot occupied by, the main use or building." <br />Thus, by stating that solar energy was a permitted "accessory use," the <br />Township had already legislatively determined that solar energy units <br />were "customarily incidental" to every principal use in every Zoning <br />District. By further undertaking the inquiry as to whether the use was <br />"customarily incidental" to a school, the ZHB erred, said the court. <br />Addressing the fact that solar energy uses were a permitted "acces- <br />sory use" so long as they meet the "requirements of the zone," the court <br />noted that the Ordinance did not define "requirements of the zone." <br />The court however found it clear that such language referred to the <br />height, area, setback and coverage standards applicable to accessory <br />uses in each particular zone. By all accounts, the School District's <br />proposed use had met those standards. <br />Given that solar energy units were permitted as an accessory use in <br />the A/RR Zone and that the School District's proposed solar field met <br />height, area, setback and coverage standards applicable to accessory <br />uses is the A/RR Zone, the court remanded the matter to the ZHB with <br />direction to approve the School District's application to install the solar <br />energy field as an "accessory use" to the School. <br />Case Note: <br />In its decision, the court noted that it found ZHB's interpretation —that the <br />solar energy field use must be "customarily incidental" to the School —would: <br />"force landowners wishing to further the intent of § 180-25(A) [—which the <br />court found was to encourage on -site generation of electric power from this <br />alternative energy—] to first demonstrate that such alternative energy uses <br />are `customarily incidental' to their underlying use, which w[ould] be dif- <br />ficult, if not impossible, to show given [the] relative newness and dearth [of <br />solar energy fields]." <br />8 © 2013 Thomson Reuters <br />