dwyersolar

We Support Solar at Dwyer…. We Simply want the Solar Panels in Any Location OTHER than in Front of our Historic Landmark School!

Dwyer Middle School is listed as a historic landmark in the Huntington Beach General Plan. The majestic school is perched up on the bluff overlooking the community and the Pacific Ocean. We believe it should stay this way!

More photographs

We believe the front of our school is no place for these “car-port” style solar panels. Because our school building is a Historic Landmark, we believe any “front of school” location for these solar panels are fundamentally inconsistent with the Secretary of Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Places.

There are other alternative locations for the solar panels, but because the plans have been completed, and the project is scheduled to start at any time, it could cost the HBCSD $150K – $250K in changes to move these panels. We believe Chevron should help absorb MOST, if not all of the costs to move these panels, especially since Chevron won a no-bid contract for this project; and since Chevron will still receive a total contract over $7M of public money for all schools involved, they need to be a good partner with our community and help defray the cost of the changes!

We WANT SOLAR! All we have ever asked is that the “Car-Port” panel structures, which are approximately 138′ long, 32′ deep, and 13′ tall, NOT BE PLACED IN FRONT OF OUR SCHOOL! We need to take care of our Officially Designated Historic Landmark, and place these panels in the bus parking lot, which has a solar access rating of 99%, equal to the highest rating of any location at any school studied (Chevron Photovotaic Assessement 11/2009).

If you agree with us and want to help us you can:

1. To help us make the biggest impact, please plan on showing up to the HBCSD board meeting on Tuesday 1/11/2011 at 7 PM at the district offices at:

District Education Office
20451 Craimer Lane
Huntington Beach, CA 92646
714.964.8888

2. Write to the board and let them know what you think at Board@hbcsd.k12.ca.us

3. Sign our online petition (no donations required)
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/movedwyersolarpanels/

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January 8, 2011

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Dwyer Project Should Follow Secretary of Interior Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties

Since Dwyer Middle School is an official Huntington Beach Historic Landmark, and the adjacent Huntington Beach City Gym is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places, the HBCSD and Chevron should follow the Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties while conducting this project. These standards and guidelines were set up to help protect and preserve historic buildings and sites. Here are some specific excerpts from the guidelines:

The guidelines for Additions specifically ADVISE AGAINST the following for historic properties: (under NOT RECOMMENDED section)

- Locating any new construction on the building site in a location which contains important landscape features or open space, for example removing a lawn and walkway and installing a parking lot.

- Introducing new construction onto the building site which is visually incompatible in terms of size, scale, design, materials, color, and texture; which destroys historic relationships on the site; or which damages or destroys important landscape features.

The guidelines for Additions specifically RECOMMEND the following for historic properties: (under RECOMMENDED section)

- Designing new onsite parking, loading docks, or ramps when required by the new use so that they are as unobtrusive as possible and assure the preservation of historic relationship between the building or buildings and the landscape.

http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/standguide/rehab/rehab_site.htm#alter

We believe that any “front of school” location of these large solar panel structures fundamentally conflict with the Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

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January 7, 2011

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Photographs of Dwyer Middle School

These photographs were taken on Wednesday 12/22/2010. You can already see the construction fencing in front where the “Car-Port” solar panels will be installed. Enjoy the unobstructed view of the school while you can! Click to each image to enlarge.

On the field in front of Dwyer building. Note the construction fence where the panels will be placed.

From next to the Historic City Gym and Pool to the South West

Dwyer from the West

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December 23, 2010

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Alternative Location Photographs

The bus parking lot – According to a study done by Chevron, the bus parking lot has a solar access rating of 99%, which is equal to the HIGHEST rating of any location at any school in the study!

Ice Plant Slope and West Blacktop

A combination of Bus-Lot, Ice-Plant, West Blacktop and West Field

The Roof of main building or adjacent buildings on site

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December 23, 2010

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HBCSD – Please Move “Car-Port” Solar Panels from Front of School to West side of Campus!

Dear Concerned Citizens,

On Tuesday December 14, 2010, the HBCSD board voted in a narrow 3 to 2 vote to proceed with plans of placing “car-port” style solar panels onto the field directly in front of Dwyer school. The image on the left shows the solar panels which will be placed on the field in front of the school shown in the image on the right, unless we get them to reconsider their current position!

We are a group of parents and community members who have been trying to get the board to listen to us for the past month or so. Within the last month we learned that the board had entered into a nearly $8M contract with Chevron to install solar panels at 5 district locations, one of which is Dwyer. Based on the current information we have, Chevron recommended the location directly in front of the school for primarily economic and engineering reasons. Little effort has been made to seriously quantify the costs, by either Chevron or the district, of finding a suitable alternative location for the car-port panels. Our current recommendation is to move them to the West side in the bus parking lot, or the ice-plant slope and blacktop, or the field below there, or really any other location OTHER than in front of the school!

If you want to help prevent these car-port style solar panels from being installed directly in front of the school, please email the board and tell them how you feel! The board email address is: Board@hbcsd.k12.ca.us. Also please sign our electronic petition to get the board to move the panels!

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/movedwyersolarpanels/

To help us make the biggest impact, please plan on showing up to the HBCSD board meeting on Tuesday 1/11/2011 at 7PM at the district offices at:

District Education Office
20451 Craimer Lane
Huntington Beach, CA 92646
714.964.8888

Finally, if you really want to help out a lot, then please subscribe to our yahoo group by sending an email to the following address:

dwyersolar-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The group email address is:

dwyersolar@yahoogroups.com

The URL for the group is:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dwyersolar/

Any email that is sent to dwyersolar@yahoogroups.com will be included on the message board.

Once you subscribe, you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you would like to join the group. Simply reply to the confirmation email and you will be added to the list and you will be able to both send and receive communications to the group by sending a message to dwyersolar@yahoogroups.com. Please remember that EVERYONE on the list will receive your message, and that it will be posted into the group, so please refrain from any personal attacks or other negative vibes!

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December 16, 2010

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