Milford passes property maintenance ordinance

The Milford council on April 20 adopted two property maintenance ordinances that aim to improve the quality of life in the borough.

The council vice president, Adriane Wendell, said the ordinance establishes minimum maintenance standards for basic equipment — such as lights, ventilation, and fire safety — which would be the responsibility of the property owner.

It also establishes quality-of-life standards to address any lack of maintenance, littering, improper storage, vendor operations in a residential area, graffiti, accumulations of snow and ice, and extra-tall grass.

Wendell said the ordinance seeks to limit anything that contributes to the deterioration of property values and inhibits economic development.

The second ordinance seeks to establish consistent enforcement through ticketing instead of citations to avoid costly court actions.

Under the current system, the borough must sue a violator.

“The borough has identified the use of tickets as an efficient mechanism for enforcement for these situations,” Wendell said.

She said there would be a graduated series of fines, starting with $50 for a first offense and increasing incrementally. The first violation will be a warning, followed by tickets.

“After the third offense, we’ll start talking about something bigger,” Wendell said.

She said the borough has had problems with unpermitted yard sales. Police would stop them and ask them for a permit. The second time around, the police could ticket them.

“This ordinance is very common in Pennsylvania,” Wendell said. “We might be one of the last jurisdictions to put one in place. It takes all of our nuisance-type ordinances and puts it all under one nice blanket policy with an easy enforcement mechanism.”