Cressona officials adopted an amendment to its quality-of-life ordinance at last week’s Borough Council meeting.
The amended ordinance provides a schedule of enforcement and stiffer fines for property owners in violation of the ordinance.
Borough council members believe there are an increasing number of quality-of-life violations and these stiffer fines might curb that.
Under the adopted amendment, a violating property owner will first receive a courtesy letter from the borough if they’ve not been cited for this violation in the past year.
That courtesy letter allows the property owner 7 days to correct the violation. If it’s not corrected in that time, Cressona can issue a ticket for a $25 fine.
Should a property owner fail to pay that fine or request a hearing within 15 days of receipt of that fine, they are subject to a $10 per day fine from days 16-30.
If the property owner requests a hearing within 30 days of receiving that first violation ticket, the hearing will be held prior to a regular Borough Council meeting. Failing to make a timely payment on that first violation ticket subjects a property owner to steeper fines.
A second violation ticket carries a fine of $50 and a third violation is $100. Fines for subsequent violations increase by $100 each after that.
Property owners that are deemed egregious or continuous violators of the quality-of-life ordinance in the borough may be issued a fine without first receiving a courtesy letter.
Failing to comply with these regulations could result in further fines of between $500 and $1,000, according to the letter of the amended ordinance.
This amended ordinance provides a more detailed schedule of fines for property owners who are deemed in violation of the quality-of-life rules in Cressona.
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