Glendale, CA Solar Energy: Panel Permits (2026)

050 rewrites several development standards specifically to make solar installations easier to approve in Glendale. 040(F), so a compliant system does not need that design-review sign-off the way other site improvements would. The section then modifies the setback and height rules one at a time. In the street front and street side setback areas, solar equipment is normally barred, but if the building itself already sits in that setback under a variance, administrative exception, or nonconforming entitlement, the panels can extend up to one foot beyond the building's roof perimeter.

The interior setback is cut by 30 percent, with a similar allowance where the building already encroaches. Height is capped at 15 feet for a detached, ground-mounted system, measured from the lowest exposed point of the support structure to the highest point of the panels; a system attached to a building, deck, or pool gets 15 feet added on top of whatever height that building, deck, or pool is already allowed, including nonconforming or variance-approved heights. Where lot coverage limits apply, solar equipment earns a 30 percent increase to the allowable coverage, and where a minimum percentage of landscaped open space is required, that minimum can be reduced by 30 percent, again solely to accommodate the equipment. 050 only removes the zoning-side development review and loosens the dimensional standards.