Mount Vernon, NY Solar Energy: Expedited Solar Permitting (2026)

Chapter 224A, adopted March 13, 2024, classifies solar into three tiers. Tier 1 covers roof-mounted systems, building-integrated systems and solar canopies (§ 224A-3). For any Tier 1 system of 25 kW or less, the Building Department must use the New York State Unified Solar Permit application and procedures rather than the standard building permit track; systems over 25 kW still qualify as Tier 1 but go through the standard building permit process instead. Either way, § 224A-6 exempts all Tier 1 installations from Planning Board site plan review and from Architectural Review Board certificate-of-appropriateness review, the two steps that otherwise slow down larger projects.

Design conditions still apply even on the streamlined track: roof panels on a pitched roof can sit no more than eight inches above the roof surface and cannot extend past the roof's peak, flat-roof panels are capped at 24 inches above the roof surface or the parapet height, and all panels need anti-reflective coating to control glare. Equipment other than the panels themselves, inverters, batteries, and similar hardware, must be screened from view and kept out of any required yard setback. Systems built before the chapter's effective date are grandfathered under § 224A-4, but a later modification that grows the system's footprint by more than 5% pulls the whole installation back under the chapter's review requirements, including the streamlined-permit track described here.