Chester County Real Estate News at a Glance – Week of October 5th
Honey Brook Borough passes Residential Inspection Ordinance
Honey Brook Borough Council adopted a use and occupancy inspection ordinance for all residential properties. The ordinance, which includes several amendments suggested by the Suburban REALTORS® Alliance, was previously considered by Borough Council at a public meeting in August. Click here to read the revised ordinance. The ordinance will go into effect on Oct. 19, 2009.
West Brandywine to consider rental ordinance
West Brandywine will consider adopting a rental inspection ordinance at their October 15 Board of Supervisors Meeting. The meeting will take place at 7:30 pm in the Township Building at 198 Lafayette Road, Coatesville, PA 19320. Click here to read a copy of the proposed ordinance. The Alliance will closely analyze the ordinance prior to the Oct. 15 supervisors meeting. Questions or comments should be directed to Alliance staff at sra@suburbanrealtorsalliance.com.
Tredyffrin lays off 11 employees
Tredyffrin Township has laid off 11 employees, and will also eliminate nine open positions in an effort to cut costs and avoid a drastic tax increase. The cuts hit the public works department, libraries, township administration and police department, said Township Manager Mimi Gleason. The reduction will save the township about $1.5 million a year and could help avoid a 2010 tax hike. Like all municipalities in Pennsylvania, Tredyffrin relies heavily on real estate-related taxes, which have decreased along with housing values and sales. The township does not levy an earned income tax or a business privilege tax.
The township saw a tax increase of 3.3 percent in 2008 and a tax increase of 2.4 percent in 2009. Millage is now at 2.23. A mil is a dollar of tax paid for each $1,000 of a property’s assessed value.
Source: Daily Local; 10/1/09
West Goshen neighbors gripe about cemetery housing plan
A group of residents attended a zoning hearing board meeting Wednesday night to express opposition to a local developer’s plan to build homes on a section of the Rolling Green Memorial Park cemetery. About two dozen residents from the neighborhoods near the cemetery said they were concerned that the development, proposed by Glenn M. White Builders, would create flooding problems and increase local traffic.
But their criticism fell outside the zoning hearing board’s scope. The board was considering whether to allow road and sewer construction in a portion of the cemetery land that lies in a FEMA-designated flood hazard zone. Developers routinely need to obtain permission to disrupt flood hazard zones, even if engineers determine that the disruption is not going to lead to flooding. Michael Lyons, the attorney for Glenn M. White Builders, said engineers have determined that the proposed floodplain disruptions will not cause additional flooding. The zoning hearing board informed residents that, provided the development plan continues, they should bring their concerns before the township’s planning commission, the advisory body that reviews land development applications.
Source: Daily Local; 10/3/09
Coatesville elected officials say manager is short on details
Members of Coatesville’s City Council criticized City Manager Harry Walker for not providing enough information as they considered his request to draw money from the city’s reserve trust fund. Walker began the meeting with a redevelopment progress report. He estimated approximately $72 million in construction costs for upcoming projects. If completed, the projects could add up to $1 million in real estate transfers. Those upcoming projects include the Mariott Courtyard Hotel; North Flats townhomes; a South Flats mixed-use supermarket; Lincoln Center; Artist Colony mixed-use project; Pennock Place Tower and Brandywine Ridge. His report frustrated some City Council members, who urged Walker to move on to discussions about cash flow. Walker recommended a transfer of $1.5 million from the reserve trust fund into the general fund. For more discussion on this topic, visit www.allaroundphilly.com/blogs/dailylocal/coatesville/blog.html .
