The Chester Spirit says...
Chester City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance which will deny building permits to people whose properties are neglected and deteriorating.
Owners of properties considered neglected or blighted who fail to correct code violations may have a lien placed against that property.
The ordinance allows the city to deny issuance of a municipal permit if fees for taxes, water, sewer, refuse collection or any other municipal services are delinquent.
I realize I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I’ve read this article several times and I still can’t make sense out of it.
My questions are...
- How many people owning neglected buildings are requesting building permits? If they are requesting the permit to fix their own neglected building, are they going to be breaking the law?
- We can’t already put a lien on blighted properties?
- Have we really been issuing municipal permits when others are delinquent?
Maybe more details will come from the 2nd reading on August 10th at 10am.
I'm lost too.
ReplyDeleteIf a building IS neglected, would we want it to be fixed? Would fixing it entail applying for a building permit?
I don't get it.
-melody
Chester is wack! I bought a fixer upper last year there. Nice old house in good condition. I spent the summer down there working on it. No A. C. there so didn't spend August there. My new neighbors reported me to the city for having grass too high in my 20x20 back yard and also for growing poison ivy...Who grows poison ivy? I had morning glories growing in my back yard. The inspector left me a citation. Neighbors called the city on me again when I rescued a stray pit who almost ran onto the highway down towards widener. Very sweet dog, got on well with my dogs. Called the city to ask about animal shelter and was told that the ASPCA in Delco doesn't come to Chester. They wanted me to bring the dog to them, but I don't drive. so I held on to her looking for the owner. 4 days later I get cited for having 3 dogs instead of the secretly ordinanced 2 dog/cat limit per house in Chester. I called city hall and they told me that they weren't going to take anyone's dog away from them so close to Christmas. After another week of living with the dog, the animal control guy Slack comes to my house and tells me that the owner of my pit has come into the shelter 3 times looking for her lost pitt and that she lives close to widener but due to privacy issues they can't give further details. So I release the dog to him, a bit heartbroken that I've grown attached to this dog after 11 days of care, but thinking she's going home to her owner. I called Slack after the weekend to make sure she got home ok. He tells me he doesn't know. He doesn't do follow up. So I call the shelter and they tell me that they have NO RECORD of anyone coming into the shelter for the pitt and that if I want to adopt the dog that I'll have to pay their adoption fee, they'll have to check my vet records for my other dogs, and have me bring them in so they can evaluate if my dogs get along with the dog I'd already accepted into our family. Then they tell me that honestly since I already have 2 dogs, unless i can get a waiver from the city there's no way they'll adopt the dog out to me and its first come first serve for the dog they wouldn't have without me and didn't give a crap about for a week and a half. The ASPCA also told me they had no contact with Chester City Hall and had no idea how the dog got to their shelter. REALLY?! I understand that there may be rules and ordinances down here in the shithole of Chester, but as an AMERICAN citizen, I deserve to have access to the laws and ordinances that a city makes. And I certainly deserve for people in authority positions to not lie to me to get away with things they would rather not deal with. That's why we have laws. Everyone gets to know what the law is and everyone can use the law to protect themselves from this kind of manipulation. After nearly a month of getting doctors notes from my doctor over the christmas holiday to satisfy city hall personel that one of my dogs is a service animal because I have a disability, I was told by Delco ASPCA that they had adopted the dog out 2 days after she had been brought in, but for some reason their internet system on petfinder continued to list her as still at the shelter and the many conversations I had with everyone there who told me she was still there.
ReplyDeleteHow can you repair a property that has been neglected if the city won't give you a building permit because the building has been neglected? They'd rather tear down the buildings? Or do they want a payoff to get the building permit?
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting topic.
DeleteI'm sure there are some properties the city wants to see fixed up. And I'm sure there are some they'd like to see knocked down.
If they don't let you have it, walk away. Ask them to show you which ones they want to sell.
Save yourself the headache.