Penn Forest pushes for 911 addressing

At the Penn Forest Township Supervisors' board meeting Monday night, Joe Steber, the township building and zoning officer, wanted to address the continued problem of the lack of compliance with the 911 addressing ordinance. Many residents in the township do not have visible addresses posted on their homes or in their yard.

Steber asked the board to adopt his proposed written warning for non-compliance of the 911 addressing ordinance. Steber wants to avoid issuing citations to residents for not having the proper posting of their addresses without some formal written warning.

The written warning would give the resident of the property 14 days to comply with the current 911 addressing ordinance for the township. Once the homeowner has complied with the warning, they must contact the zoning office to make notification of the compliance. At that time the building and zoning officer will come back out to conduct an inspection to ensure that it meets the proper posting standards.

Failure to comply or notify the office will result in the issuing of a citation to the homeowner after the 14-day period has expired. Lack of address posting at all will result in an immediate citation. The building and zoning office has been fighting an uphill battle in trying to get all residents to comply with the ordinance.

The supervisors voted unanimously to adopt the proposed written warning citation as presented by Steber.

The 911 addressing ordinance was put in place to ensure the fastest possible response by emergency personnel when called to a residence. Having clearly visible and posted addresses would ensure that emergency crews can find the right location when called to assist in what could be a life or death situation.