SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- The environment won and lost a battle Wednesday in a divided Sunnyvale neighborhood where residents have been locked in a six-year legal dispute over towering redwood trees and roof-top solar panels shaded by their foliage.

As the homeowners and neighbors looked on, a tree-trimming crew cut back the branches of one of the redwoods Wednesday morning. Pictures were taken of the tree in the hopes the judge would not order Richard Treanor and his wife, Carolyn Bissett, to completely remove it.

"It’s terrible," Bissett told KTVU as she watched the tree get a 'poodle-cut.' "But we're meeting the court order and it's unfortunate it has come to this situation. It could have been worse, the judge was very fair."

The judge had found the Sunnyvale couple guilty of violating one count of the 1978 Solar Shade Prevention Act and ordered at least one redwood be "altered, pruned or removed."

The case marked the first time in the state a homeowner has been convicted of violating the law, which was enacted three decades ago, when few homeowners had solar systems.

The law requires homeowners to keep their trees or shrubs from shading more than 10 percent of a neighbor's solar panels between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun is strongest. Existing trees that cast shadows when the panels are installed are exempt, but new growth is subject to the law.

Residents can be fined up to $1,000 a day for violations, though the judge did not impose any fines against Treanor and Bissett.

"We actually feel very good about it (the judge's decision)," Treanor told KTVU. "We feel vindicated in two ways -- one being that we prevailed in the sense we saved most of our trees which is what we really were after…and we've gotten the ear through the media of the state legislature…to bring some balance to the solar installation situation."

The dispute began when Mark Vargas complained the trees were blocking his solar panels and got the attention of local prosecutors. It went through various legal stages until it ended up in court and has cost Treanor and Bissett in the neighborhood of $37,000.

Vargas, meanwhile, said the law protected his $70,000 investment in solar power, and he believed it should be strengthened.

"I think it's unfair that a neighbor can take away this source of energy from another neighbor," he said.

Treanor, a retired engineer, said he and his wife are not against solar power, "but we think there's a rational way to implement it."

Solar power is growing rapidly in California, which is by far the nation's biggest generator of solar energy. In 2007, more than 30,000 California homes and businesses had rooftop solar panels, with the capacity to generate 400 megawatts of electricity.

That's as much as eight power plants, according to the nonprofit Environment California.

The boom is being fueled by the California Solar Initiative, which offers homeowners and businesses more than $3 billion in rebates over the next decade to install solar-electric systems.

Both sides say they want to do what's best for the environment.

Treanor and Bissett, who drive a hybrid Toyota Prius, argue that trees absorb carbon dioxide, cool the surrounding air and provide a habitat for wildlife.

Vargas, who recently bought a plug-in electric car, counters it would take two or three acres of trees to reduce carbon dioxide emissions as much as the solar panels that cover his roof and backyard trellis.

Bernadette Del Chiaro, clean energy advocate for Environment California, says the solar shade law might need to be revised to prevent similar disputes.

"We want to make sure we are protecting individuals who have invested a lot of money in solar power, which is an important resource for the state," she said. But lawmakers might want to "take a look at the policy and make sure it's written in a way that's fair to everybody."

Meanwhile, Treanor said he hoped the trimming ended his lawless days.

"We're glad we are getting this behind us and we can put our criminal behavior in the past," Treanor said with a chuckle.