Blight Fight and Land Banks

Grainy Photo by Evan Brandt

One of several charts showing even Pottstown properties on the auction block at a deep discounts are not selling.

A summit to consider potential remedies for Pottstown's long-standing property problems was held
Wednesday at Connections on High.

The primary methods being presented were: 1) land banks, a relatively knew way to compile and turn-over problem and vacant properties in blighted areas; and 2) enhanced code enforcement strategies that have had some success in Allentown.

Some of the materials distributed at the summit.

Presenters included Winnie Branton, who spoke on behalf of the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania; John Kromer, an expert with the Fels Center for Government at the University of Pennsylvania, and Eric Weiss, former director of the bureau of code enforcement and rehabilitation for the City of Allentown.

About 25 people attended the summit, a mix of Pottstown and county officials and representatives of several non-profit agencies including Genesis Housing Corp. and Mosaic Community Land Trust.

We will be publishing more in-depth stories on these presentations in The Mercury in the coming days, but in the meantime, here are the Tweets from the meeting.

(Remember to click the blue "Read Next Page" bar at the bottom of the feed to ensure you see all the Tweets.)

Land Bank and Blight Summit Wednesday

A "Blight Summit," perhaps the first ever of such, will be held Wednesday at Connections on High on Wednesday, April 22, from 9 a.m. until noon.

Connections on High is located at 238 E. High St., Pottstown.

Officially called the "Montgomery County Land Bank and Blight Summit," it is sponsored by the the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, in coordination with the Borough of Pottstown and Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County.

(You can learn more about it and register for the summit by clicking here.)

Organizers say it is an opportunity to share information and begin a preliminary discussion about land bank and code enforcement issues and related issues in Pottstown and elsewhere.

Agenda Highlights include:

• Land Banks and Land Banking 
• Presentations by John Kromer, Fels Center for Government, University of Pennsylvania and Winnie Branton, Branton Strategies LLC 
• An update te on land banks in Pennsylvania – where they’ve been established, how they are operating, and what lies ahead 
• How a land bank might benefit nonprofit and private developers in Montgomery County 
• Start-up and initial operating costs. 
• Strategic Property Maintenance Code Enforcement with Eric D. Weiss, former director, Bureau of Code Enforcement and Rehabilitation City of Allentown 
• Innovative and effective code enforcement practices that may be suitable for replication in Montgomery County

No Vacancy?

It's been eight months since it was adopted, so some of you may have forgotten, but the borough ordinance requiring that owners of vacant property file a registration with the borough started Sept. 1.

Code Enforcement Supervisor Maria Bleile said despite there being numerous vacant properties in Pottstown, only one single registration form was filed in September.

The ordinance requires the property owner to file a registration within 60 days after the property becomes vacant.

The registration is valid for one year and a new registration must be filed if the property remains vacant. That registration (or renewal) comes at a cost, that is outlined below.

Here is the first page of the form:

Here is the second page of the form, showing the fee structure for the registrations:

The full six-page ordinance can be viewed on the Pottstown Borough Web Site by clicking here. 

Pottstown’s Blighted Property Review Committee has identified more than 100 buildings since it began tracking them in 2007.

The borough contends that owners of these vacant blighted properties “are neglectful of them and are not maintaining or securing them in adequate standards or restoring them to productive use.”

The empty buildings also have the potential to “increase criminal activity, can increase the risk of fire and generally pose an increasing concern for public health,” according to the ordinance.

Vacant structures also diminish property values and cost the borough money in the form of property inspections, fire calls and police calls, the ordinance finds.

"It's been a while since it was adopted and we just wanted to remind people that this ordinance is out there and people need to register these properties," Bleile said.

This Town is Going to the Dogs...

Fido, don't do it!

...That was the message resident Stanley Thomas had for borough council during the April 8 meeting.

Thomas, who said he recently moved to the area near the King and Washington streets intersection, was at council to complain about dog crap.

"There are dog droppings all over the place," he said.

"You see all these people walking with Rotweillers and those dogs who get blamed for things and you have to look down when you walk," said Thomas.

"Nobody is picking up after their dogs, it's disgusting."

"That is a real problem," agreed Borough Council President Stephen Toroney.

Steve Toroney has

promised to address the

problem of indescreet dogs.

"There are areas of the town that are not well kept and you have to walk in the
street to avoid it," he said.

Councilwoman Carol Kulp suggested that perhaps signs be put up to remind residents that there is an ordinance against allowing their dogs to crap in the street and on the sidewalk.

"Right now people have to be caught in the act to be cited," Toroney said.

"This is a problem and we will address it," he said.

In the meantime, watch where you walk...