Palmerton continues to plug away on a rental ordinance.

The issue was discussed at last week’s borough council meeting following a complaint from a borough resident.

Kim Clark, who resides on Avenue A, told borough council she has neighbors who are disrespectful.

Clark said they stomp through the house, slam doors, and have a dog that barks all day long.

Councilwoman Holly Hausman-Sell informed Clark that the borough continues to look into a rental ordinance.

“We’re working on a rental ordinance,” Hausman-Sell said. “We have to meet to finalize some aspects of it.”

Councilman Kris Hoffner added, “We’re having that problem throughout the whole town. We had hoped to have an ordinance sooner than later.”

Clark said her neighbors simply don’t care.

“I’m just getting to the point where, I’ve been nice for two years; I’m tired of being nice,” Clark said. “It’s very frustrating.”

Council President Terry Costenbader told Clark she needs to call when something is happening.

After the meeting, borough Manager Autumn Canfield said, “In general, we currently have no way to identify a rental property versus owner occupied property.

“Many regulations are enforced against the property owner,” Canfield said. “We are working on a registration program to help identify the rental properties so we are more effectively able to address concerns.”

Background

The discussion started in July 2023 when resident Bruce Morrison asked if there was a way to enforce keeping sidewalks clean in the borough.

Canfield said at that time that anytime the borough gets a complaint, officials send it to the code enforcement officer or building code officer, depending on the nature of the complaint.

Canfield noted at that time the borough didn’t have a rental ordinance.

Hausman-Sell asked Morrison at that time if he had a specific concern on a rental property.

Morrison said at that time that there’s been a lot of trouble in other municipalities, and that he didn’t want to see that happen in the borough.

In October 2021, council discussed joining other local municipalities in an attempt to regulate rental units.

At that time, the borough had 700 units.

Officials said the rental unit registration and inspection program would pertain to property maintenance as dictated by the International Property Maintenance Code.

The goal was to promote safe and sanitary conditions of rental housing, and that the borough believed this would increase property values, as well as encourage landlord and tenant responsibility for the condition of properties.

The borough had been made aware that an increasing number of calls to the police come from rental units, and the revenue from the registrations may be used to help fund additional police staffing and training to meet the demand.