New Mexico Statutes
Article 3 - Solar Rights
Section 47-3-11 - Local authority.

A. Notwithstanding any other provisions of the Solar Recordation Act [47-3-6 to 47-3-12 NMSA 1978] or the Solar Rights Act [47-3-1 to 47-3-5 NMSA 1978], the governing body of a county or municipality may by ordinance regulate in whole or in part the claiming of solar rights in accordance with its powers to regulate zoning, planning and platting, and subdivisions; except that any solar right claimed pursuant to such local ordinance shall vest with respect to any property benefited or burdened by the solar right only after recordation as provided in Section 4 [47-3-9 NMSA 1978] of the Solar Recordation Act. Such local regulation shall not affect any solar right vested before the effective date of such ordinance, nor shall the local regulation affect any solar rights transfer which vested prior to the effective date of such ordinance. In the absence of the local regulation of solar rights, the following principles shall apply in addition to those set forth in the Solar Rights Act. If the property burdened by a solar right has or could have improvements constructed to a maximum height of twenty-four feet, then the solar right shall be limited, as to that burdened property, to protecting an unobstructed line-of-sight path from the solar collector to the sun only as to obstructions located on the burdened property which cast a shadow greater than the shadow cast by a hypothetical fence ten feet in height located on the property line of the property on which the solar collector is located. If the property burdened by a solar right has or could have improvements constructed in excess of twenty-four feet in height, but no greater than thirty-six feet, then the solar right shall be limited, as to that burdened property, to protecting an unobstructed line-of-sight path from the solar collector to the sun only as to obstructions located on the burdened property which cast a shadow greater than the shadow cast by a hypothetical fence fifteen feet in height located on the property line of the property on which the solar collector is located. No solar right shall be obtained against property which has or could have improvements constructed in excess of thirty-six feet in height unless so provided in a local ordinance or agreed to by contract. Unless otherwise provided by contract or local ordinance, a person may allow vegetation to grow or construct or plan to construct any improvement which obstructs the protected solar right so long as such obstruction does not block more than ten percent of the collectible solar energy between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Unless otherwise provided by contract or local ordinance, solar rights shall be protected between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
B. Nothing in the Solar Recordation Act shall be construed to limit any county or municipal ordinances concerning solar rights in effect prior to the effective date of this section.
History: Laws 1983, ch. 233, § 6.

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