Owners of Vacant Pottstown Props Not Complying With Registration Law

As of Sept. 1 a Pottstown ordinance came into effect mandating that vacant property owners register their properties with the municipality, but still, only one property owner has done so, according to The Mercury.

According to Maria Bleile, a code enforcement supervisor, only one out of multiple vacant Pottstown properties is now registered.

The Blighted Property Review Committee in Pottstown has tracked such buildings since 2007 and have determined that there are over 100 of them.

The property owner of the vacant property must register the property within 60 days after vacancy occurs, according to the ordinance. One year after the registration, if the property is still vacant then the property owner must file a new registration, and this time, pay a fee.  

That fee for residential properties is $75, then $125 the next year, and $175 the next year, and then $275 after that.

Owners of commercial and industrial buildings that are 40,000 square feet or above must pay a fee of $1,000 the first year of registration, which becomes $1,2000 in the fourth year of vacancy.  

Property owners of multi-family properties have a $200 registration fee that increase to $400. Owners of buildings that are deemed industrial buildings or commercial buildings fewer than 10,000 square feet are required to pay $250 the first year, and then $450 the fourth year.

According to the borough ordinance, such vacant buildings may “increase criminal activity, can increase the risk of fire and generally pose an increasing concern for public health.”

The entire ordinance is available on the borough’s website, www.pottstown.org.

Such vacant buildings require borough’s time and funds due to police and firefighters responding to the buildings, and property inspections. The vacant buildings bring property values down, as well.