I ran in to a lot of similar Code Oridances in my NC county. Insanity. To ground mount, mine has to even have a 6 foot screen around it.I've recently discovered that a representative in my state floated a bill to tax ALL solar panels. The goal of this is obvious - revenue! There is however, an argument to be made that as solar proliferates the revenue of your local utility will drop while his opertational cost continue to rise. There will be a tipping point where this will become a problem. As with water that comes from the heavens and falls upon your roof in some states is NOT yours so shall be deemed the sun at some point.
I agree something smells foul about this. Like, I'm in a coastal area where some vacationers only come once every couple years; yet, they must pay the power company base fee to keep it active. Kinda odd how nobody uses solar. Well now I know why.
I ended up been buying an AIMs converter (UL Listed) then hooking to a generator to charge my battery banks. I did find a website that only sells UL Listed panels. Just haven't gotten there yet.
Oh and get this: I found a piece of wire my power company uses and its NOT UL Listed... aluminum crap. Of course every wire I use must have UL stamp.
I'm determined to get all this right though even considering roof mounting instead... new panels are packing a wholap now.
Note: it can be done. Watch out for the ignorant code officers. Read all thw ordinances yourself and I suggest having them at hand.