Heidelberg Township board of supervisors meeting on Aug. 20 began with a review and discussion from Mike Italia, with Barry Isett and Associates, on the proposed fire code ordinance.

Italia explained that the proposal is for fire and life safety inspection programs for existing nonresidential occupancies.

He said he met with the fire chief on several occasions and the fire department is on board.

“The last step is for you to adopt the ordinance and then move forward,” Italia said. “That’s pretty much it, it’s turnkey. There was some discussion on who was going to facilitate it, but that can be worked out afterward. We will be here to help you do whatever you want to do.”

Township manager Dawn Didra asked Italia if it was possible to get a little more plainer language in the ordinance.

“That is as plain as it gets,” Italia said. “It is structured by the International Fire Council. There’s certain language that has to be done.”

David Fink, board vice chairman, said he would like to see a definition of the businesses that qualify under the proposed ordinance.

“It is anything nonresidential,” Italia said.

“That doesn’t suit me,” Fink said. “I need specific definitions because there’s some small businesses that should be exempt.”

“Does that also include like home-based businesses.” Didra asked?

“They are exempt. They are residential. Agricultural like farms are exempt,” Italia said before giving an example of a farm in Berks County that has a massive manure storage facility like 2,000,000 gallons of manure which is not exempt because it creates a significant hazard and that is regulated by Department of Environmental Protection.

“Your average milk farm, hay farm or corn or stuff like that, agriculture, is a separate thing. We’re talking strictly shopping centers, schools, those types of things, ” Italia said.

Didra then asked about stand-alone businesses.

“Yes, for the most part, industry,” Italia said. “Usually schools are a top problem. They have more problems than anywhere else. “

Jonathan Jakum, board chairman, asked if the ordinance includes rental properties.

“No. We did talk about that. That is a totally separate world,” Italia said.

He added that only the common areas in four or five story apartment buildings where there’s 100 units in it would be covered by the ordinance, not the rental units.

Some municipalities have like an Airbnb policy where they treat them like a mini hotel, Italia said.

“The definitions are anything that comes out of the building code. The building code regulates anything nonresidential- single family dwellings. Twins are not regulated by the building code. That’s regulated by the residential code,” Italia said. “We kept it as simple as possible. Just the bare bones information the IFC basically requires us to do without getting in hot water.“

Starting to develop a fire code ordinance is a real educational lesson, Italia said in closing.

Under unfinished business, the board discussed zoning ordinance amendment feedback from the planning commission on the keeping of pets in the township.

Didra said the planning commission thought it would be better to keep it simple as it’s only for a rural district.

After further discussion, board members approved a motion to send the draft from the planning commission to township solicitor Keith Strohl to add the proper legal terminology.

Under new business, the board discussed Resolution 2026-23 to execute documents for the fire company’s engine replacement.

David Hunsicker with Germansville Fire Company said the fire company gets more and more calls all the time and it needs proper equipment so the firefighters can safeguard the community.

“Randy Metzger has been working with Dawn (Didra) to get an LSA grant. We are hoping to get as much as $860,000,” Hunsicker said. “We have money that we are going to put in and then we will still need a small bank loan from New Tripoli Bank to wrap this up. So at this point we won’t need any township dollars. What we do need is your support that you are going to continue to support the fire company as you have all these years to meet our operating expenses.”

After further discussion, a motion was approved to adopt Resolution 2026- 23 and include a letter from the township with the LSA grant application for the fire company’s engine replacement.

The board also discussed under new business the creation of a new line item, “357.010 land preservation fund contributions,” in the land preservation budget to document income from donations and fundraisers.

“Since they (Farmland Preservation Committee) made so much money, we didn’t have any way to put that in the budget or in our books. We need to create a new line item so that anytime they collect money, we can put it on the account,“ Didra said.

“Otherwise it goes in as taxes, and we just want to make sure that we’re not showing that any donations or any fundraising is coming from tax money,” Katie Fabian, township treasurer said.

“So the purpose is when we do our books, we can see this is how much we collected in taxes and this is how much was collected in fundraisers or donations.”

Board of supervisors members approved a motion to create the new line item for land preservation fund contributions.