Jul 7, 2016 2 min read

North Strabane Township supervisors held an ordinance workshop Tuesday to hammer out revisions to the township’s oil and gas and property maintenance ordinances.

The purpose of the changes to the property maintenance ordinance is to implement additional regulations for unsafe structures and blighted property within the township, and to incorporate the Neighborhood Blight Reclamation and Revitalization Act into the township code.

The ordinance also aims to simplify the Uniform Construction Code and International Property Maintenance Code, which the township follows, to better enable the township to enforce the ordinance.

Revising the ordinance will enable the township to deal with absentee landlords and address blighted properties.

Doug Trbovich, of the township code enforcement office, said the township is dealing with seven blighted properties, including a property in Strabane that the code enforcement office has been battling for 10 years and currently is in bankruptcy.

“I don’t have the teeth or the enforcement powers to resolve it,” he said. “It would be a township park now, if I had the power.”

Township Manager Frank Siffrinn said there has been an increase in the number of out-of-state buyers who purchase property online and then cannot be located when the properties fall into disrepair.

The ordinance also addresses issues including motor vehicle nuisances.

Supervisors also discussed revisions to the oil and gas ordinance.

The revised ordinance includes: a setback of 500 feet from the edge of the well production pad to an occupied structure and 1,000 feet from the edge of the well production pad to any protected structure; the lot size for a compressor station facility footprint must be between 5 and 10 acres; and no equipment or surplus materials can be stored at the facility.

Supervisors are expected to vote on the revised ordinances at the July 26 meeting.