Feb 5, 2015 4 min read

MUSE – For the first time, Cecil Township officials will be permitted to step inside vacant properties in Muse that are the subject of ongoing litigation.

Township Solicitor Christopher Voltz said the township’s insurance carrier recently granted the township’s request to access and inspect duplexes owned by Andrew Puchany at 30, 32 and 34 Birch Way as part of the discovery process in court proceedings. The properties will be inspected by an independent engineer March 2 – the same week an argument will be heard in Washington County Court related to Puchany’s challenge to the township’s property maintenance ordinance.

An attorney with Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, the law firm retained by the township’s insurance carrier, declined to say which parcels an engineer would be inspecting. But board of supervisors Chairman Tom Casciola said the township hopes to inspect all three of the parcels to get a better idea of their conditions.

“To date, we haven’t been able to get (an engineer) inside,” Casciola said, explaining Puchany would not permit township officials inside his properties.

Puchany’s housing units at 30 and 32 Birch Way were condemned because they were “mostly vacant, uninhabitable and a nuisance,” zoning officer Bruce Bosle determined in August 2013. Bosle said an engineer needs access inside those units to determine whether the structure needs to be razed. Bosle said 34 Birch Way also was condemned, and an interior inspection is necessary there, as well.

The township purchased half of one of Puchany’s duplexes, a parcel at 36 Birch Way, last year from the county repository.

“We really didn’t want (Puchany) to buy it because then he would maintain it in the same condition that the other three are in,” Casciola said.

Several residents on Birch Way have complained at township meetings that the properties are an eyesore and harbor feral cats and raccoons.

Dave Bradwell, who lives on Birch Way, complained during Monday’s board meeting that the township was denied access inside the property in the past. He expressed frustration that the property issues have gone unresolved for so long.

“We went through this before. This ain’t our first rodeo,” Bradwell said. “This has been 20 years, and they tell us every time we ain’t allowed in until you go to the courts. I can’t believe right now that you’re telling me (you) are getting in that house. I don’t believe it.”

Puchany, reached by phone Thursday, dismissed neighbors’ complaints and said he was not notified the township will enter his properties next month. He argued that he tried to make improvements to his property in March 2013, but the township sent police to stop him.

“They are not being fair about it, and every time that I’ve tried to do something they stop me,” Puchany said.

He alleged that the township is involved in a conspiracy to punish him and force the demolition of his housing units. He also is challenging the township’s property maintenance code, which he claims does not provide a proper avenue for appeal.

According to court documents, he attempted to file an appeal with then-District Justice Valerie Costanzo related to a property maintenance determination and was told that she had no jurisdiction in the matter. Puchany argued that the township’s property maintenance ordinance lists the district justice as the sole outlet to appeal a property decision.

Preliminary objections made by the zoning hearing board and Bosle will be heard in court March 6. Township officials said they cannot comment on the matter.

In a separate matter, a Washington County Court judge recently dismissed fines of nearly $3,200 Costanzo ordered Puchany to pay after he was found guilty of owning parcels at 30, 32 and 34 Birch Way that were “unsafe for human habitation and in violation” of the property maintenance code.

Judge Gary Gilman vacated Costanzo’s decision because Judge Katherine Emery ordered in March 2014 that citations be halted until the court rules on the validity of the township’s property maintenance ordinance.