The Eldred Township supervisors approved looking into whether or not six properties should be declared unsafe.

The supervisors received a report from the zoning officer, Jeff Snyder, asking for permission to proceed with an investigation of the properties under the dangerous and dilapidated building ordinance, which then could lead to them being declared unsafe. Once he inspects the properties, then he would write a report for each.

The properties listed are 254 Gower Road and 122 Roth Road, both owned by Craig Mager; 556 Correll Road, owned by Jason Green; 237 Gower Road, owned by Jeffrey Long; T361 Gower Road, owned by Matthew Hoskings; and T375 Molasses Valley Road, owned by the Lee Costenbader Credit Shelter Trust.

Snyder’s report said that the two properties owned by Mager are vacant buildings and collapsing. The property on Correll Road has multiple vacant buildings on it that are in bad condition. Hoffman said the building on Gower Road owned by Long is falling down. Hoskings’ property has an old one-room school house that is collapsing. Similarly, the barn on Molasses Valley Road is collapsing.

The supervisors approved to have Snyder do a site investigation of the properties and come back to the board with recommendations in a report. If they are determined to be unsafe, then the supervisors can require the owners to repair the buildings up to livable condition or take down the structures.

“It’s a long process,” said Michael Gaul, the township solicitor.

If they don’t do it, then the township would have to take them to court. Sometimes, property owners don’t take down the structure because of the expense of depositing the construction material in a landfill, said Ann Velopolcek, the township secretary. It can also be expensive to clean up properties with an environmental issue, such as underground gas tanks from an old gas station. None of the properties in the zoning officer’s report have an environmental issue, she said.

Supervisors’ Chairman Gary Hoffman said, “Tearing it down’s the easy part. It’s taking it to a place that will accept all that stuff. That is the problem. The fee to take that to a landfill is incredible.”

Gaul said the municipality could quicken the process if they wanted to pursue liens against dilapidated properties, but that costs money to file them and the township doesn’t want to take over ownership of the properties.

In other business

The supervisors approved offering the First Responder Tax Relief tax credit to residents who would be willing to volunteer to be firefighters at the fire department. The percentage of the discount will be determined at a later date.

Ann Velopolcek announced that there will be a public presentation about the proposed Village Overlay District at 2 p.m. on April 8 at the municipal building. And a Pick Up the Poconos cleanup date is set for 9 a.m. to noon on April 23. Residents who would like to participate can pick up supplies at the township office. Once they have filled the garbage bags, they need to contact the township office to let them know the bags are ready, so they can be picked up for disposal.

The township also announced that it is looking for an intern for the office for the summer. Please contact the township office at 610-381-4252 for more information.