Pattye Benson

Community Matters

958 Mt. Pleasant Road . . . Vacant lot now overgrown with weeds and rodents . . . what recourse for neighbors?

There is a long abandoned lot located at 958 Mt. Pleasant Road, in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. This vacant lot is not at the end of the road, or on a corner but is located right between two existing homes. At the town hall meeting, Mt. Pleasant resident Christine Johnson stated that she had contacted Mike Pilotti in regards to the vacant lot and he said he would look in to finding the owners. One of the neighbors to the vacant lot stated that she had contacted the township several times over the lot and that the township already knew who owned the lot.

You can tell by the old cement steps, that there was once a house on the property but what remains on the lot is a mound of crumbled concrete and ever-increasing trash (broken bottles, tin cans, car tires, etc.). According to the neighbor, the overgrown lot has now become a haven for rodents and she now has to deal with the rodent problem in her own home. My understanding is that the township will have difficulty enforcing a clean-up by the owner of the vacant lot . . . apparently due to property rights there is no mechanism in place to force the owner to clean up his/her property. But what about the public health, safety and property rights of the neighbors to this vacant lot? What recourse do these neighbors have?

The following photo was taken from the driveway of the next-door neighbor to the vacant lot. Can you imagine looking at this mess every time you come and go out of our house!?

Share or Like:

8 Comments

Add a Comment
  1. I was at the meeting on Monday. Sure, the township people showed up and some of the supervisors but for what? Because they were guilted in to coming — do you really think that they care about me and my problems in Mt. Pleasant? Christine J. goes to meeting after meeting and tries to help us but do you think the supervisors ever come to this part of the township? No, unless its campaign season. I met Pattye when she came here last fall and I voted for her. She lost that election but she still cares to try and help. But how much can she do? We need the township people and the supervisors to care about doing what is right because we are a part of this township.

    1. Mt. Pleasant homeowner –
      So you know I sent an email to all the Board of Supervisors and to Mimi Gleason, township manager with a link to this post on Mt. Pleasant. I have asked for them to get involved with the vacant lot. I have also asked Rep. Paul Drucker for his assistance with this matter. I took photos of the Henry Ave/Fairview Rd. development project; I have issues with those abandoned houses and the clear-cutting of all trees. I will be posting that shortly. Thank you for your comments and let’s see if our elected officials are listening to u.

  2. Perhaps residents of some neighborhoods in Philadelphia are resigned to living next-door to this kind of debris and all the “wildlife” it attracts.

    But in Tredyffrin we expect out township code to prevent this from happening , and to act immediately if it does. It shouldn’t matter which neighborhood has the problem. It is totally unacceptable.

    It seemed unclear on Monday night whether the Township had been in touch with the owner of 985 Mount Pleasant Road.

    Regardless, now is the time to enforce a clean-up for safety reasons. And if there is nothing in place to require an owner to clean up such mess, then the Township needs to get an ordinance in place ASAP to deal with problems of debris and others including additional stormwater problems.

    Re the change in the housing mix in Mount Pleasant from single-family to multi-unit and student-oriented housing, I think our elected officials should commit publicly to preserve affordable housing.

    Because people of modest means are being driven out of this township in favor of increasing tax revenues .

    Is this what we want?

    And could this have anything to do with the Township’s inaction on Mount Pleasant’s laundry list of unaddressed issues?

  3. Take a look around you will see worse here…like the house (occupied) on fairview or drug deals or the house with a dump in the front yard. Funny how people pick their battles………. isn’t it?

  4. So John, now its the supervisors job to enforce noise ordinances and public drunkenness laws?

    I was waiting for you to chime in and blame it all on your perceived personal enemies.

  5. Drug dealing and use in Tredyffrin are not unique to Mt. Pleasant.

    That said, I am not aware of any drug dealing going on in Mt. Pleasant at this time. Because this is such a tight-knit community, word gets around quickly. It’s not something easy to hide.

    The dump you are referring to is the Byrd Disposal Company, they are a legitimate company grandfathered in under regulations existing at the time they began operating in the 1940’s. they have already been contacted by the Township and the DEP and are remedying any violations.

  6. John, my point is, you are quick to blame the lack of response by the police on your perceived personal enemies (AKA the BOS, or at least certain members). Isn’t it the job of law enforcement to enforce the laws that the problematic students are breaking?

  7. Janet, I think John makes excellent points about the lack of track record of elected officials going to bat for Mt. Pleasant. For 30 years Mt. Pleasant has had consistent representation on the board of supervisors: Paul Olson. In those 30 years what has he done for that community? And now, even when the spotlight is on Mt. Pleasant, he didn’t step forward to insist he be one of the supervisor representatives at the latest meeting. Pretty blatant lack of interest. Olson has a well-deserved reputation for getting things done that he cares about. Imagine if he’d lifted a finger on behalf of Mt. Pleasant.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Community Matters © 2024 Frontier Theme