It was more than a rerun of a
meeting held late last spring. Pennsbury Township residents objected strongly
enough to two proposed ordinances that supervisors tabled the measures to a
future meeting.

One ordinance dealt with
unregistered and abandoned cars while another concerned maintenance codes for
private buildings.

Residents in June argued
against an occupancy ordinance that would have required property owners to pay
$200 to the township to have their properties inspected when put up for sale.

The proposed maintenance code
change—the follow up to the rejected occupancy code—would have adopted the
International Code Council provisions for the township. That code is updated
every three years, according to township solicitor Tom Oeste. He said the ICC
was updated in 2009 while the township code was last updated in 1993. He called
the current code “obsolete.”

Yet, neither Oeste nor the
supervisors could answer when asked what was in the ICC. That challenge came
from resident Robert Orenshaw.

Oeste said he couldn’t say
what’s in the code, but then said he and the supervisors knew what’s in it.

Another resident said that
sounded like Nancy Pelosi saying Congress had to pass the healthcare bill
before the people could know what was in it.

Oeste said the ordinance had
been duly advertised and Supervisors’ Chairman Wendell Fenton said that the
advertising period gave residents the chance review the ordinance to see what
was in it.

Code Enforcement Officer Rusty
Drumheller eventually said the code addresses issues such as occupancy limits,
standards for heating apartments, treating mold and pealing paint and also
covers abandoned vehicles left on private property.

Supervisor Aaron McIntyre said
the ICC is accepted throughout Pennsylvania, adding, “We want to keep Pennsbury
up to date in accord with these codes. It seems reasonable to me [to adopt].”

Tabling the code ordinance came
after the supervisors decided to hold off on voting on the proposal on
abandoned cars. That proposal would make it illegal for unlicensed and
unregistered cars to be allowed on public streets and on private property. It
also outlawed car parts left in sight.

Fenton said the state police
would not take care of unregistered or abandoned cars left on the street.

Orenshaw—a former police
officer in Delaware County— also challenged that. He said the state police do
enforce regulations against abandoned and unregistered cars on public roads.

He then asked under what
conditions a township employee would be authorized to go onto private property
to enforce the code and Fenton said that would happen if it was deemed an
eyesore or if there was a complaint.

Orenshaw then asked how many
complaints there had been, but supervisors did not site any.

Orenshaw has had an ongoing
dispute with the township regarding his own property, but other
residents—including former Supervisors’ Chairman MaryAnna Ralph—also objected
to the new ordinance.

Ralph said, “It seems like it’s
too much. It goes beyond keeping [unregistered] cars off the streets.”

Another resident also said it
sounded like “a violation of private property rights.”

Both measures were postponed
until at least next month. McIntyre urged residents to review the proposed code
changes before attending the next meeting.

Other business

• Supervisors were scheduled to
vote on a request for final approval of the village plan during the Feb. 14
meeting, but that was changed. Township Manager Kathy Howley said the
developer’s attorney requested an extension until April 30.

• The board’s next meeting is
scheduled for March 23.