City of Greensburg, PA: Modification of standards.

This chapter shall be known as the "Property Maintenance Code Ordinance of the City of Greensburg."

[Amended 4-9-2007 by Ord. No. 1942; 7-13-2009 by Ord. No. 1982; 1-12-2023 by Ord. No. 2146; 12-8-2025 by Ord. No. 2183]

That a certain document, one of which is on file in the office of the Planning and Development Department of the City of Greensburg, being marked and designated as the International Property Maintenance Code, 2021 edition, as published by the International Code Council, be and is hereby adopted as the Property Maintenance Code of the City of Greensburg, in the State of Pennsylvania, for regulating and governing all conditions and maintenance of all property, buildings and structures; by providing the standards for supplied utilities and facilities and other physical things and conditions essential to ensure that structures are safe, sanitary and fit for occupation and use; and the condemnation of buildings and structures unfit for human occupancy and use, and the demolition of existing structures as herein provided; providing for the issuance of permits and collection of fees therefor; and each and all of the regulations, provisions, penalties, conditions and terms of said Property Maintenance Code on file in the office of the Planning and Development Department are hereby referred to, adopted, and made a part hereof, as if fully set out in this chapter, with the additions, insertions, deletions and changes, if any, prescribed in § 205-3 of this Code.

§ 205-3 Modification of standards.

[Amended 12-21-1994 by Ord. No. 1646; 4-9-2007 by Ord. No. 1942; 7-13-2009 by Ord. No. 1982; 6-10-2013 by Ord. No. 2024; 9-14-2015 by Ord. No. 2057; 9-11-2017 by Ord. No. 2077; 1-12-2023 by Ord. No. 2146; 12-11-2023 by Ord. No. 2157; 12-8-2025 by Ord. No. 2183]

The following sections of the 2021 edition of the International Property Maintenance Code are hereby revised:

Section 101.1, Title. Insert: "City of Greensburg."

Section 103.1 is stricken and replaced as follows: "The Department of Property maintenance inspection shall be a part of the City of Greensburg Planning and Development Department and the executive official in charge thereof shall be known as the Code Official."

Section 104.1 is stricken and replaced as follows: "The fees for activities and services performed by the Department in carrying out its responsibilities under this code shall be as indicated, and as updated from time to time, in City of Greensburg Code Chapter 151."

C1.

Section 105.2, Inspections, is amended by adding the following subsection:

105.2.1 Inspection Program

(1)

All dwelling units or structures, with the exception of completely owner occupied residential structures, shall be subject to a routine inspection, which shall occur at least every two years to determine compliance with this Code and the Code of the City of Greensburg (collectively referred to as "Code"). Violations shall be corrected by the property owner as set forth in this Code.

(2)

It shall be unlawful for the owner of any dwelling unit or structure, with the exception of completely owner occupied residential structures, to transfer their ownership interest in the property without a pre-transfer inspection confirming compliance with the Code. Where the inspection reveals Code violations resulting in the issuance of a notice of violation and compliance order, at the City's sole discretion which may be withheld without reason, the transferee shall deliver a signed and notarized affidavit acknowledging receipt of the notice of violation and compliance order and acknowledging responsibility without condition for making corrections to bring the property into complete compliance. Said affidavit shall be in a form prepared by the City of Greensburg and the duration of the time period for remediation shall be in the discretion of the Code Official, which shall take into account the nature of the condition and safety of the property and availability of materials and persons to complete the remediation activities. The term "transfer" shall not include intra family transfers and transfers between entities that contain functionally the same ownership, such as a transfer from a person to an LLC solely owned by the same person.

Section 109.4, Violation penalties. Strike Section 109.4 and replace as follows: "Any person, firm or corporation who shall violate any provision of this code shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 or imprisonment for a term not to exceed 90 days, or both, at the discretion of the court. Each day that a violation continues after due notice has been served in accordance with the terms and provisions hereof shall be deemed a separate offense."

D1.

Section 111.6, Transfer of ownership, is stricken and replaced as follows:

111.6 Transfer of ownership.

It shall be unlawful for the owner of any dwelling unit or structure who has received a compliance order or upon whom a notice of violation has been served to sell, transfer, mortgage, lease or otherwise dispose of such dwelling unit or structure to another until the provisions of the compliance order or notice of violation have been complied with, or until such owner or the owner's authorized agent shall first furnish the grantee, transferee, mortgagee or lessee a true copy of any compliance order or notice of violation issued by the code official and shall furnish to the code official a signed and notarized affidavit, as set forth in Subsection 105.2.1(2), from the grantee, transferee, mortgagee or lessee, acknowledging the receipt of such compliance order or notice of violation and fully accepting the responsibility without condition for making the corrections or repairs required by such compliance order or notice of violation.

Section 111.4 Notice is amended by adding the following at the end of said section: "Service of such notice in the foregoing manner, by posting a copy of the notice in a conspicuous place in or about the structure and/or equipment along with mailing the notice using U.S. first-class regular mail, shall constitute notice upon the owner."

Section 108 is hereby stricken and replaced as follows:

SECTION 108 MEANS OF APPEAL

108.1 Application for appeal. Any person directly affected by a decision of the Code Official or their designee or a notice or order issued under this chapter shall have the right to appeal to City Council by filing a written application for appeal with the City Administrator within 20 days after the date of the decision, notice or order. Provided a written application for appeal is timely filed, a hearing will be scheduled before City Council and the appellant will be provided at least 10 days' notice of the hearing. The written application for appeal must:

Contain a brief statement of the reasons for the appeal;

Include the name and address of the appellant to which notice of the hearing can be given; and

Include payment of the appeal fee set forth in Chapter 151.

Section 110.4 is stricken and replaced as follows: 110.4 Failure to comply. Any person who shall continue any work after having been served with a stop work order, except such work as that person is directed to perform to remove a violation or unsafe condition, shall, upon conviction of a summary offense, be subject to fines of $100 to $1,000, per day worked in violation of the stop work order.

Section 302.4, Weeds. Insert: "six inches."

Section 304.14, Insect screens. Insert: "May 1 to October 1."

Section 507.1 shall be amended to insert the following sentence at the end: "Under no circumstances shall any drainage activities be conducted in violation of Greensburg Code Chapter 219."

Section 602.3, Heat supply. Insert: "September 1 to May 1."

Section 602.4, Occupiable work spaces. Insert: "September 1 to May 1."

Section 704 shall be amended by adding the following Sections 704.7 though 704.9.

704.7 Notification. All existing buildings which have been tied to the City's Gamewell Fire Box System in the past must be converted to an UL-approved centrally monitored agency as of December 31, 2008, or sooner.

704.8. All buildings requiring a central monitoring fire alarm system must be tied to an UL-approved central monitoring service and must comply with all regulations regarding a central monitoring service as per NFPA 72.

704.9. Any building requiring a central monitoring fire alarm system and all buildings with two or more dwelling units must provide a Knox-Box® access at the main entrance of the building for Fire Department use.

§ 205-4 Construal of provisions.

Nothing in this chapter or in the Property Maintenance Code hereby adopted shall be construed to affect any suit or proceeding impending in any court or any rights acquired or liability incurred or any cause or causes of action acquired or existing under any act or ordinance hereby repealed, as cited in Section 4 of this ordinance,[1] nor shall any just or legal right or remedy of any character be lost, impaired or affected by this chapter.

[1]

Editor's Note: Original Section 4 provided for the repeal of all ordinances or parts of ordinances inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter.