A sign with leasing info for a vacant commercial storefront is seen on Madison Street in Lansdale in Nov. 2024. Photo by Dan Sokil | The Reporter.
Code meant to spur turnover
A vacancy code for Lansdale borough is one step closer.
Borough council voted in mid-January to begin preparing an ordinance they say could help fill vacant properties, both commercial and residential, throughout the town.
“I think it is critical to have this first step, to give us one of the legs of the stool to have a thriving Main Street and town,” said councilman Mike Yetter.
The vacancy discussion was spurred by the closures of the downtown Rite Aid and Wells Fargo branches in summer 2023, the longtime Wilson’s Hardware that closed in 2022, and the former National Auto store at Main and Wood Streets that’s been empty since 2017. The code committee has discussed a possible vacancy tax or fee meant to spur owners of vacancies to submit plans or sell, and staff have said they often encounter trouble contacting an owner who has left a property empty.
Council has also seen an updated color-coded map developed by staff that lists various vacancies and info on those properties, ahead of a vote last August to update the borough’s codebook to add a new “downtown core” area with new development options. The code committee has also discussed how third-party companies could help enforce such an ordinance, and collect a part of the fees or fines it would establish.
In December, that committee heard from Hera Property Registry about how that nationwide firm works with towns to identify such properties, contact the owners, and collect vacancy fees, and at that time the code committee said they’d direct staff to work with Hera to develop a draft code for council to debate.
That discussion continued during the council meeting on Jan. 15, when borough Director of Community Development Jason Van Dame gave an update on next steps.
“The committee wanted to bring forth this ordinance to prepare and advertise in January, to give us some time to get some of the recommendations into the sample from Hera, that has been provided to council for review. And that motion will be on the table for us,” Van Dame said.
Code committee chairwoman Rafia Razzak then made a motion directing staff to prepare a property registration and vacancy ordinance, and council President Mary Fuller kicked off comments by saying her feelings were mixed.
“I have to admit, I am in between on this initiative. My tendency will be to move forward with the prepare-and-advertise, but I do want to learn more about this,” she said.
“My concern is that I want to make sure we’re using resources correctly. I don’t want to create more work for the borough than need be. I believe in the theory of why this might be a good thing, I’m not sure how I feel on where it will land,” Fuller said.
Yetter answered that he’s in favor of drafting an ordinance based on the code committee talks as “a tool, that we’re able to use to get better visibility and registration, and to interact with property owners,” and not just for the commercial properties initially discussed.
“As we met with Hera, we learned about the residential benefits of that as well. When Hera did present, they were aware of more foreclosures in the past year than we were, which gives us the ability to interact with (those owners), and make sure those properties are maintained for the benefit of the community,” he said.
Any penalty for leaving a property vacant would be paid by the bank or owner, “so that is not a burden upon the residents,” and having the code in place could spur the owners of vacant houses to rent or flip.
“On the commercial side, I do not think it is the solution by itself, to the vacancies. You also need economic development — potentially, a Main Street manager,” Yetter said, one of the options discussed by the town’s economic development committee in recent months.
That group could also create an economic development corporation that could help bring in tax benefits or grants to help spur new development, Yetter said, using the registry to identify those properties that are available, and who to contact to do so. Mayor Garry Herbert added that the code and contract with the outside firm are meant to take work away from borough staff, who may be busy with local day-to-day duties and have less experience contacting national or international banks that own the properties in question.
“They’re the ones with the relationships with the banks, they’re the ones managing the list. They will be turning over that data to us, because ultimately it is our data, and we should want to use it to our benefit. But as far as the execution of the list, the execution of the fees, all of that, that all fall on Hera,” Herbert said.
And either side can terminate the contract if they don’t see success.
“I don’t think that the lift from the borough will be too strenuous. If we feel that it is too strenuous, they’ve given us the opportunity to get out relatively quickly,” the mayor said.
Council voted unanimously to direct staff to prepare and advertise the ordinance, and Van Dame said updates will be given in future code committee meetings. That committee next meets at 7:30 p.m. and full council next meets at 8:30 p.m., both on Feb. 5 at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street; for more information visit www.Lansdale.org.
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