Hi Brian, Now you're asking the right questions. Perhaps someone from the building & planning department in Irvine was layed off and they got a job in Chula Vista. There are a number of a$$-backward municipalities down that way. Dunno what their real agenda is, but stuff like "Provide UL Listing and Fire Rating for PV Racking" and "Must have 3rd Party NRTL inspect and provide listing for supply-side interconnection in existing service equipment" pretty much stops a lot of otherwise good projects. Mind you, it was the first time I've ever been asked for the UL Fire Rating on a ProSolar rack. On the matter of supply-side taps, I have seen a lot of hack jobs. Stuff that should NEVER be allowed, but has been. I'm all for doing it right. The service equipment in the case of the 3rd Party NRTL gig happened to be the closest thing to PERFECT for Supply-Side tap... 3 year-old switchgear with square-hole perforations every 2" on the buss. We even went so far as to run down and source the EXACT hardware and lugs that the Mfr (Siemens) used in the original equipment. Got the info from Siemens. Provided it to the City. No go! Methinks old-school corruption is the culprit in some of these instances... Some of us have been around long enough to remember the old days when a bottle of Wild Turkey with a $100 ribbon used to be expected if you wanted to get anything done. Now, just to keep the record straight... I never participated in such activities personally, but I sure saw it happen. Wild Turkey and hunting trips to Nevada. I was young back then but it still rubbed me wrong every time I saw it or heard some contractor bragging about how he bought off the inspector. Don't really know the answer. It's a touchy situation. On one hand, these agencies are sworn to protect the safety of the public, and that's pretty much a blank check when you get down to it. On the other hand, if you spend the time and $$$ gaining favor with City/County supervisors, mayors, etc., and that results in them handing down an ultimatum or otherwise pressuring change at the Building Department, you're gonna have to deal with pissed-off plan-checkers and inspectors. If it's a onesy-twosey situation and you're not hopeful to have a whole bunch of work in that jurisdiction, then it's probably best to punt and refer the potential customer to your least favorite competitor. I fought many battles on this front over the years. At one point I formally recommended that SMUD issue a notice to residents within the City of Sacramento that said: "Due to unreasonable requirements and uncooperative staff in the City Building Department, SMUD is unable to offer City residents a PV system at this time. If you have questions or concerns, please contact your City Supervisor." I wasn't being cocky, but my proposal was shot down every time I brought it up. Funny thing is, one of the City Supervisors was actually an attorney at SMUD, but he did the right thing and recused himself from anything that could be construed as "conflict of interest". It was, and still is, my opinion that customers are the appropriate spearhead within their local government. As businesses, we aren't always located in such and such a jurisdiction. We don't vote for the supervisors and other local ordinances in every place we work. Our customers are property owners who choose to live or own property there. From firsthand experience I can tell you that squeaky constituents get heard and quite often, if they are a big enough pest, they will get what they want if it's not too out of line. A suitably installed Tile Integrated project with appropriate clearances, etc., shouldn't be "too out of line". In your case, I'm assuming that you are proposing an integrated product that is the roof.... Yes? No? If it is the roof, then it has certain listings, ratings, etc. which allow it to be installed as the roof, in accordance with the listing. Unless there is a "quick-release" feature approved by the manufacturer, modifying the attachment would violate the listing. If you are proposing a Class A roof installation, then it should be reasonable to assume the City of Chula Vista is going to require "Quick Release" features on all other Class A roof systems installed in their jurisdiction, yes? My experience has been that there are two general cases where this type of obstacle comes up: 1) Ignorance without malice; 2) Intentional obstruction. In the case of #1, this can generally be overcome by calmly educating the person you're dealing with. This can be frustrating and time consuming, but can generally work out in the long run. I've learned a lot going through this process over the years. Perhaps the most valuable lessons have been in the area of "understanding where they are coming from". On occassion they've even been right and I've made changes to what I do accordingly. In the case of #2, see above. Best of luck! Please let us know how it turns out. Matt Lafferty
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