Ross Township supervisors discussed what to do about abandoned and condemned buildings and properties during Monday’s meeting.

“This has been a pet project of mine since I became a supervisor,” said Chairman James Zahoroiko. “There are many of them around the township.”

He described them as an eye sore, dangerous and potentially decrease the property values of neighboring homes.

Supervisors wondered if they had to create a new ordinance to deal with the blighted properties.

“Nuisance ordinances and dangerous building ordinances were popular to adopt about 15 years ago,” said township Solicitor Tim McManus. “It is possible your book of ordinances already has one you could revise and use.”

“All of a sudden, we have a flurry of complaints. We have a lot of open cases but not a lot of concrete information from the zoning officer,” said Vice Chairman David Shay. “The ordinances are not resolving our issues. We can’t go any further.”

On Sept. 19, five complaints were filed for properties that already had open, unresolved complaints.

The supervisors and office staff said the problem is twofold. The ordinance can only do so much if no one is fully complying. The other issue is the lack of time the zoning and code enforcement officer is spending on the complaint and getting the property owner to comply.

A home on Pine Tree Court burned down several years ago, and needs a dangerous structure designation.

Not much has been done since the fire to clean up the property. Some items were moved to a different location in January 2022. Then in June of 2022, the township received more complaints from residents about the property. On April 28, 2023, the township filed a civil complaint with the district magistrate.

“Why did 10 months go by with no follow-up? There are all these rules that people need to abide by,” said Shay.

The township allots six hours per week to SFM Consulting to do zoning and codes enforcement.

“We need a clear path - a timeline - for each complaint and a certain window of time,” said supervisor Randy Detrick.

Supervisors noted how each complaint has a lot of information at the start of the case, but then the progress slows down. Months go by before the next update occurs.

“Stuff shouldn’t be hanging on for two years. Residents come here to our meetings with concerns. That is the biggest legitimate problem here,” said Shay.

McManus said the supervisors should reach out to SFM Consulting to see if there is a reason for the lag time.

“Maybe it’s not enough hours allotted. Or it could be a different reason,” McManus said.

He suggested inviting SFM Consulting to one of the supervisors’ monthly workshops, and the supervisors liked that idea.

Workshops are held the last Wednesday of the month at 1 p.m. Anyone is welcome to attend.

In other business:

• Trick-or-treat is from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31 in the township.

• Supervisors voted 3-0 to pass the yard sale ordinance. Residents can have two yard sales at their homes each year without purchasing a permit. Residents may also provide their address and information about the yard sale so it can be advertised on the township website.

• The next supervisors’ meeting is at 6 p.m. Nov. 6.