FAQ

PA Annual Dog License Instructions

Residents are responsible for contracting individually with one of several private refuse haulers to schedule their trash removal.  Click the link to download a list of available haulers.  Middletown Township does not provide municipal trash removal and does not pick up bulk items.

Middletown Township provides curbside recycling services for residential properties (excluding apartments) in compliance with state law.  Collection occurs on a weekly basis and according to street.  Items collected include newspapers, magazines, junk mail, office paper, phone books, cardboard (broken down into 12" x 30"), clear and colored glass, aluminum cans, steel and bimetal cans, and plastic bottles and jars coded numbers "1" and "2."  Containers should be rinsed and bottle caps and lids removed.  No paint or aerosol cans should be recycled.  Paper products must be bundled or placed in paper bags or boxes for collection.  Loose paper will not be picked up.

Recyclables should be placed curbside the night before or by 6:00 A.M. on your scheduled collection day.  If your recycling is not picked up, or if you are not sure when your collection day is, please call the Township Building at 610-565-2700.  Please note that improperly sorted or prepared recyclables and non-recyclable items will not be collected. 

Replacement recycling bins may be purchased at a cost of $20.00 each at the Township Building.  (Cash or check payments only).  If the recycle bins are not used and you choose to use your own container (Maximum 33 gallons), they must be marked with the yellow recycle stickers which are also available for pick up at the Township Building, Linvilla Orchards, and Wolff's.

Commercial facilities, institutions and multifamily residential properties of more than four dwelling units are responsible for setting up their own recycling programs.  Each facility must provide a report to the Township certifying on an annual basis the amount of recyclables collected during the year, along with certified weight slips indicating the amount of recyclables collected.

Please click on the heading for the most up-to-date information.

Deer and other animals on state roads are removed by PennDOT.   You may call PennDOT to report a dead deer on a State Road at 1-800-FIX-ROAD.   You may also contact the PennDOT Customer Care Center through Customer Care Center.

State roads are Route 1, Route 352, Route 452, Lenni Road, Rose Tree Road, Barren Road, W. Knowlton Road, Parkmount Road, Lundgren Road, Dutton Mill Road, Bortondale Road, Creek Road, Van Leer Ave., and a portion of Darlington and New Darlington Roads.

If you are having problems with stray dogs or cats on your property, please call the Township Offices at 610-565-2700, or complete an online Animal Control Service Request form under the Public Works web page. We will have our Animal Control Officer investigate the problem.

Problems with feral cats, raccoons, or other wild animals must be handled privately using a state certified animal control officer. If you would like names of wildlife management companies, please call our office. 

To report an animal control issue during normal business hours, please call the Township at 610-565-2700. During evening or weekend hours, please contact the BVSPCA Animal Control Dispatch office directly at 610-692-6113 x 212.

APS Officers will respond to specific complaints and known problem areas within the Township and effect abatement through counseling, issuance of warnings, violation notices, or by any combination of the above resources.

Failure to comply with the Animal Ordinance regulations will subject the Owner to fines. Complaints about violations should be reported to the Township at 610-565-2700 for follow-up by the Township's Animal Control Officer. Dog bites should immediately be reported to the Township Health Officer and State Police for follow-up.

Middletown contracts with the Brandywine Valley SPCA for full Animal Protective Services (APS), including animal code enforcement and stray animal transport, boarding and care.

If your dog is lost, please call the BVSPCA at 610-692-6113 to determine if it has been transported there. All stray dogs collected within Middletown Township borders by BVSPCA Officers are transported to the BVSPCA for boarding.

Lost or stray dogs must be confined in some manner in order for an APS Officer to collect and transport it to the BVSPCA. APS Officers will not respond to a stray dog call unless and until the animal is contained.

If you find a lost dog with current license tag, you can visit the Delaware County Public Access website at https://www.delcopa.gov/publicaccess/index.html, click on the "Return a Lost Dog" tab, and enter the number of the current license registration. You will then have access to the dog's name and phone contact in order to reach the dog's owner. Only the dog’s name and phone contact are given. No individual names or addresses are made available.

Household Hazardous Waste can be disposed of during collection days held by Delaware County at various drop off sites throughout the county. Please call the Township Building or County Conservation. You may reach the County Conservation for any further details at 856-227-6900. You may also visit the County website here for a list of disposable items and a schedule of the collection dates.

Register for a County HHW event here.

A Zoning Permit is required for all fences, sheds, patios, decks, and detached accessory structures under 1,000 sq. ft.  

A Building Permit is required for decks over 30" above grade and detached accessory structures over 1,000 sq. ft.

No permit is needed for ground cover paver patios.

Please call the Building Department at 610-565-2700 for detailed information.  Information is also available on the Planning and Development page of the website.

Open burning for the purpose of disposing of any type of yard waste, including leaves, sticks, and branches, is a violation of air quality regulations in force by DEP in the Southeastern Pennsylvania Air Basin, as well as state-mandated municipal recycling requirements, and is prohibited in Middletown Township at all times. The only exception is for fires set solely for recreational, cooking and ceremonial purposes, (as defined by PA DEP or the PA State Fire Code). A recreational fire is an outdoor open fire that is no larger than 3 feet in diameter and no more than 2 feet in height, built for pleasure, cooking, warmth, or religious or ceremonial purposes. The use of outdoor fireplaces, portable outdoor fireplaces, barbeque grills and barbeque pits is also permitted under the current regulations.

The Township’s volunteer fire service will notify the Township of any unauthorized open burning operations that come to their attention for appropriate enforcement. Additionally, DEP may choose to spot check compliance with their order and have representatives in the Township at any time. It is unknown how the DEP may choose to enforce the ban should they locate and address violations in progress but the Solicitor has advised that the Township and individual residents can be cited by DEP for violations of their statutes.

Please click here to be directed to the Township Leaf & Yard Waste page for alternatives on proper disposal of yard waste.

Any currently licensed vehicle may park on any Township street unless the individual street or section of street is posted for "No Parking".

Chapter 192 (Solid Waste), Chapter 266 (Weeds and Vegetation), and Chapter 275-205 (Junk Vehicles) of the Middletown Township Code of Ordinances contains regulations and restrictions on nuisance activities of this type.
  
    A. Specifically, the "Weed Ordinance" provides authorization for enforcement action when "tall grass" or other uncut vegetation has become some type of a nuisance; including but not limited to, blocking the sight distance at an intersection, causing or aggravating allergic conditions, causing or aggravating the breeding and harborage of rodents or insects, or when creating a fire hazard. The simple presence of "tall grass" in and of itself is not a violation and therefore not subject to any enforcement action.
 
    B. Unregistered vehicles and other "junk" vehicles as defined in the Code of Ordinances are not permitted to be parked or stored on public or private property at any time.
 
    C. To promote the public health and welfare, trash and other organic refuse may be temporarily stored prior to removal by a licensed refuse hauler for disposal in accordance with Township regulations. Trash and refuse may not be burned at any time. The dismantling, depositing or storing of obsolete, outworn, discarded or abandoned vehicles, machinery, scrap or household goods or parts thereof is prohibited and represents a violation.

Call the Township at 610-565-2700 to report any of the above nuisance issues.

The Township of Middletown Code of Ordinances, Chapter 227 regulates and restricts the use of All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV's) and other motorized off-road recreational vehicles (dirt bikes). ATV's and "dirt bikes" are never permitted to be operated on public property. The use of ATV's and "dirt bikes" may be permitted on private property with the property owner's written permission. In the case where the rider is on his/her own property, he/she may not ride closer than 50 feet to the dwelling on an adjacent property unless the owner of such adjacent property has provided written permission to ride closer than 50 feet.

To report a violation call the Township Building (610-565-2700) during business hours. At other times call the PA State Police (484-840-1000). If an emergency condition exists, call 911.

The Township of Middletown does not require a Certificate of Occupancy on existing residential buildings that are sold, leased or rented.  A Certificate of Occupancy is required for new Commercial buildings and for existing Commercial buildings that have been improved by substantial alteration, renovation, addition, or have changed use group classification.

In those cases where the subject property (residential or commercial) is serviced by public sewer, the Middletown Sewer Authority requires a sewer lateral inspection.  Please contact the Sewer Authority at 610-566-3087 for additional information and forms, or refer to the website. 

New MTSA Sewer Certification Program

All buildings are required to be occupied and used in conformance with their Certificate of Occupancy and applicable Zoning Ordinance regulations.

To report potholes or other issues on State Roads, call 1-800-FIX-ROAD or send an email through PennDOT's Customer Care Center. State-maintained roads in Middletown Township are: 

Each of these six routes have certain designated “priority roads” that are plowed or salted immediately upon the onset of a snowstorm. These designated roads, along with the aprons to all the fire stations, are plowed and/or salted regularly until the snowfall recedes.  

Depending on weather conditions, salting will occur once snow sticks to the roadway surface.  Plowing begins when the snow has accumulated to about three inches. Once plowing has started, the crew will continue to clear just the center of the roads until the snow stops.  After the snow has stopped (and under ideal conditions) it can take the plow up to eight hours for three to four complete additional circuits of the route to clear back to the curb.                

How can residents of the Township help during emergency periods?  First if at all possible, please do not park your car on the street.   Park at the end of your driveway (two feet from the street) so that you can exit directly onto the street and your parking space is already cleared for your return.  Second, where cars must be kept on the street, try to coordinate with neighbors and park on one side of the street only.  Third, because of the duration of the typical storm and the hours needed to clear the roads, intersections and cul-de-sacs are left to be fully cleaned off until after the roads are completed.  The crew makes every attempt to clear snow away from driveways within cul-de-sacs, however. 

 Lastly, your patience is appreciated.  The men work long, difficult hours and driving through a snowstorm takes its toll.  Each snowstorm is different and presents different conditions that affect how fast and completely the snow can be removed initially.  Our crew will be working diligently to clear our streets and they ask for your understanding and cooperation.

• Cable/Phone/Internet:  Comcast  1-800-COMCAST, www.comcast.com; Verizon 1-800-660-2215, https://www.verizon.com/local/pennsylvania/
  
• Electric: PECO  1-800-494-4000, www.exeloncorp.com
• Water:  Aqua PA  1-877-987-2782, https://www.aquaamerica.com/our-states/pennsylvania.aspx

Police service for the township is provided by the Pennsylvania State Police from their facility on West Baltimore Pike adjacent to the Franklin Mint. In an emergency dial 911.  For other calls, the State police number is 484-840-1000. There is no separate municipal police department.

Middletown Township has two volunteer fire companies; Middletown Fire Company and Rocky Run Fire Company.  Each company provides primary service to its geographical first due district, assisted as needed by the other Township company.  Both companies provide mutual aid response to our neighbors on an as needed basis.  Please continue to support our dedicated volunteers, both financially during their annual fund drive and personally if you could volunteer some of your time to help support this important community mission. In case of an emergency dial 911.

Since March 2001, Riddle Memorial Hospital has been designated by the Middletown Township Council as the primary provider of emergency ambulance service for all 911 emergency calls within Middletown Township.

Riddle Hospital staff paramedics and EMTs are dispatched to the vast majority of all ambulance calls within Middletown Township potentially requiring either advanced life support (ALS) or basic life support (BLS) pre-hospital emergency medical services or transport. Riddle Hospital's emergency ambulance service does not receive any Township tax funds or other Township financial support. In most cases involving ambulance
response and patient transport, the cost of this service is billed by the ambulance service provider to the patient's automobile or health insurance provider.

Due to the rising cost of providing timely and professional emergency ambulance services and to help offset some of the costs that are not covered by insurance payments, Riddle Hospital began seeking financial support from community residents through an annual subscription campaign. Similarly, Rocky Run Ambulance, a division of Rock Run Fire Company, provides BLS transport capability in support of Riddle Main Line Health EMS..

Residents may choose to contribute to either or both ambulance services, but under the response protocols established through the 911 Emergency Center for Middletown Township, ambulance response for Middletown Township for the signifcant majority of all calls for assistance will be handled by Riddle Ambulance units.

• Township Council generally meets the first and third Wednesdays of every month at 7:00 pm at the Middletown Township Municipal Building, 27 North Pennell Road. 

• Council Committees generally meet before Council meetings as needed.  

• The Zoning Hearing Board generally meets on the fourth Wednesday of every month.

• The Planning Commission generally meets on the second Tuesday of every month.

All meetings are open to the public. Contact the Township Offices to confirm dates and times, or click on the Calendar of Events link in the sidebar.

Please refer to this website, http://www.waterfacts.com/

• Township-levied taxes, including Real Estate Tax, Recycling, and Sewer fees, can be mailed or paid at the Township Building, 27 N. Pennell Road, Media, PA  19063.  Residents are also now able to pay Township taxes online here 
  
• School taxes are to be paid at or mailed to the Rose Tree Media School District Administrative Building, located at 308 North Olive Street, Media, PA  19063.  Phone number: 610-627-6000.
• County taxes should be directed to Government Center, Ground Floor
  201 W. Front Street Media, PA  19063 Phone number:  610-891-4273.  The County now has the ability for online tax payment here
  
• All businesses located within the Township must register with the Township-contracted tax collector, Berkheimer Associates, and must pay their taxes directly to the tax collector.  The address is 325 N. Pottstown Pike Exton, PA  19341.  Phone number: 610-599-3140.  The registration form is available for download on the Finance Department webpage.

Click the link to see the Real Estate Tax FAQ:

Real Estate Tax FAQ