Chapel Hill makes room for clotheslines

But town can't alter current rules

CHAPEL HILL -- A Chapel Hill woman's attempt to save a little energy ran into some rules of neighborhood etiquette last fall.

Deborah Fulghieri asked the Town Council in October to pass a local law to let residents adopt any energy-conservation measure that does not harm others.

Specifically, Fulghieri wanted to hang her clothes out to dry in her Beechridge neighborhood. Her homeowners association prohibited clotheslines. Fulghieri said using a clothesline rather than an an electric dryer would save about 2 kilowatt-hours each time.

"Two kilowatt-hours are worth only about 25 cents, but in the aggregate and in the long run, we can reduce unnecessary electric demand," she wrote Oct. 3 in e-mail to the town. "The aggregate and the long run is what we are all in together, after all."

It took a few months, but the town responded to her petition.

In a memo for the council meeting Monday, staff members say the town has revised its development process to protect clotheslines and other "solar collection devices" in future developments but that it can't overrule existing bans.

"The general subject has been identified as a potential item of interest as part of the town's legislative agenda for 2008," Planning Director J.B. Culpepper and Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos wrote. "The town does not have the authority to nullify any existing private covenants which might restrict installation of clotheslines."

Richard Ducker, associate professor of public law and government at UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Government, agreed with the town's assessment.

Generally, the town cannot step in to reverse or waive an association's covenants, unless the town happens to own property in the development in question.

"Sometimes there is state legislation that governs covenants, like recent legislation on display of U.S. flags and political signs," he said.

In an interview, Fulghieri said her drying apparatus turned out to be a clothes rack. When she explained that to her association, she said, it backed off.

But saving energy is not the only reason Fulghieri likes to dry her laundry outside.

"The sheets smell just divine," she said. "There's just an outdoor smell that is really wonderful. That's really why I was doing it."