property maintenance

How do you envision your community?

Is it one filled with neatly kept homes, nicely landscape yards? Sadly, neighborhoods where people help each other seem to becoming a thing of the past as we all become preoccupied with our busy lives. It is doubtful that anyone would chose to live next to rundown properties with overgrown weeds and trash and your local government should only get involved as a last resort as the cost of that involvement is a cost to everyone.

We struggle to avoid spending your tax dollars to provide those services for home owners who are unable or who refuse to follow good property maintenance practices but this is unfortunately becoming the township’s most frequent request.

Who is responsible for this – the home owner, the tenant or the bank that foreclosed on a property? Safe and decent housekeeping is everyone’s responsibility and as a property owner, you have certain obligations. Protecting your investment and the health of the occupants by maintaining your property in good repair is the right thing to do – for everyone. What each of us does affects our neighbor and our neighborhood.

The Borough of Mount Penn is trying to tackle these issues on behalf of the citizens of the community who are correctly concerned for their property value by stepping up on the enforcement of the property maintenance ordinance and by adopting our new Certificated of Use and Occupancy Ordinance to require inspections of properties at the time of sale. We hope that this information helps to create awareness throughout the neighborhoods.

All property owners are asked can help us make a difference and do your best to follow these practices with your property:

• Keep your structures maintained and in good repair, structurally sound and sanitary assuring that they do not pose a threat to the public’s health, safety or welfare
• Keep your property reasonably free of weeds, underbrush, cans, bottles or any other refuse or debris which may create or may tend to create a harbor for rats or other hazard to the public health and safety of others.
• Keep your the grass cut on your premises and including the grass in the sidewalk areas adjoining your premises.
• Make sure that all fences, retaining walls or similar structures are constructed in a workmanlike manner and properly maintained in a state of good repair.
• Keep all accessory structures, including detached garages, sheds, cabanas and swimming pools maintained in structurally sound conditions and in overall good repair.
• Each structure to which a street number has been assigned is required to have such number displayed so that it can be easily observed and readable from the public right-of-way.
• Make sure your driveways and walkways in proper states of repair, free of hazardous conditions.
• Each dwelling must have at least one smoke detector on each floor and a minimum of two smoke detectors per dwelling. Smoke detectors save lives.

By adopting the International Property Maintenance Code a community attempts to ensure a minimum level of safety and sanitation for both the general public and the occupants of a structure, and to maintain a building’s structural and weather-resistance performance.Many common complaints that fall under this code are overgrown weeds, debris, vacant and dangerous buildings and abandoned or junked vehicles.  Additional fire safety requirements, plumbing, mechanical and electrical requirements are also addressed in this ordinance which may cause violators to be subject to fines and penalties. 

The Borough of Mount Penn is a very special community of tree lined streets, well kept homes and unique architecture. Safe and decent housekeeping is everyone’s responsibility. What each of us does affects our neighbors and our neighborhood. Protecting your investment and the health of the occupants by maintaining your property in good repair is the right thing to do – for everyone.

Residents are responsible for maintaining their trees. Lower Alsace Township Ordinance No 37 (LIST OUR MT. PENN ORDIN and APPROPRIATE COPY BELOW) requires that “trees shall not be permitted to grow on any property with limbs extending over the sidewalks of the Township at a height of less than 8 feet from the surface of the said sidewalk or over the Township streets, roads or alleys at a height of less than 12 feet from the surface of such streets, roads or alleys.”We sincerely appreciate all the cooperation we receive from our township residents in keeping their trees property maintained.

Snow Emergency information will be posted as an announcement on the home page of this web site, and also on WEEU (830 am), WRFY (102.5 fm), and TV 69 News (channel 9).If you are on an emergency route, your vehicle must be removed from the street. The following roads are designated Township Snow Emergency Routes:

• Harvey Avenue – from Carsonia Avenue to Exeter Township line.
• Columbia Avenue – from Carsonia Avenue to Roosevelt Avenue
• Marshall Avenue (Stony Creek) – from Antietam Road to Logan Street
• Prospect Street – from Carsonia Avenue to its intersection with North 26th Street
• Cherrydale Avenue – from Friedensburg Road to its intersection with Carsonia Avenue
• North 25th Street – from Harvey Avenue to Park Street (west side)

Please help our emergency workers by making sure that the snow is cleared from the fire hydrant in front of your property.

February 14, 2017 the Mount Penn Borough Council adopted a Blight Prevention Ordinance (#837), enabling our codes officer to more readily, and without delay, address “nuisance” type of property maintenance issues such as grass, weeds and rubbish. Our codes officer will then be afforded the opportunity to tackle major issues through the Property Maintenance Code summary citation process with the Magisterial District Court.  Our ordinance has been modeled after efforts of other municipalities throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

The Borough of Mount Penn is committed to maintaining a high quality environment within our neighborhood. The Central Berks Regional Codes Department, in conjunction with Lower Alsace and our citizens, has pledged to uphold and sustain a well groomed community.  You may address your concerns, complaints, or compliments verbally by contacting the Codes Department at 610-898-0780.

A complaint form is available below.