Changing the Borough's Rental Rules

Photo by Evan Brandt

Say what you want about Pottstown, but the folks who take care of the landscaping around borough hall are doing one hell of a job. This was my view as I walked to the meeting and I have to say it was very pleasant.

About a dozen landlords attending a meeting held Wednesday night in Pottstown Borough Hall to brief them about the changes underway in the borough's rental ordinances.

Chief among these is the switch to a new inspection schedule of every two years for rental properties.

But it will take 30 months for the borough to shift to this system, so until 2018, the borough will also (within reason, depending on the last inspection) conduct inspections when tenants change, as is currently done.

The landlords had a lot of questions, but generally seemed pleased at the effort by Licensing and Inspections Director Keith Place to reach out and explain the changes, and listen to their concerns.

Here are the Tweets from last night's meeting.

A Vote of Support and a Surprise Announcement

Mercury Photo by Kevin Hoffman

Council voted 6-2 last night to issue a letter of support that will be used in an application for tax credits to help redevelop the old Fecera's furniture warehouse at Beech and Evans into affordable housing for artists.

Well if would have been hard to be bored at Monday night's council meeting.

A flood of supporters spoke out in favor of the Beech Street Factory project and council voted 6-2 to sign a letter of support.

The letter will be part of an application for $1.2 million in low-income housing tax credits which are

Photo by Evan Brandt
Borough Council President Stephen Toroney, right, talks with
Councilwoman Sheryl Miller, center, and Deb Penrod after
Monday night's council meeting.

crucial to the financing of the $12.7 million project.

The project plans to put 43 affordable apartments for artists (and six for physically handicapped residents) into the old Fecera's furniture warehouse at Beech and Evans streets.

Also, almost as many landlords came to speak out against not only council's plan to increase rental inspections to once a year -- a plan they backed off last week; but also against the implementation of the Better Landlord program, which was also outlined last week.

But perhaps the biggest surprise of the night came at the end when Council President Stephen Toroney announced he will not run for reelection to a fifth term in November.

You can read my Mercury story about that here.

Other than that, here are your tasty Tweets, served up and ready to consume.