PETERSBURG – Upper Township Committee is considering how it might regulate door-to-door sales in the township, as the current ban might not be enforceable.
Township Administrator Gary DeMarzo began the agenda item discussion March 13 by saying an ordinance regulating door-to-door sales would require registration.
“We have to create a registration and licensing system,” DeMarzo said. “It’s nice to make these ordinances, but then you have to maintain them.”
Committee members said they had seen more and more salespeople approaching homeowners on their property, soliciting solar panel installation, pest protection, or other house-related services. Committeeman Curtis Corson said someone stopped at his property with a truck full of blacktop and told him they had over-ordered for a project and asked if he would like to have his driveway blacktopped.
Mayor Jay Newman explained that, under the current ordinance, that sort of soliciting to homeowners is prohibited, but it also becomes a First Amendment issue.
Committeeman Mark Pancoast said the problem comes in where there are aggressive sales tactics used. Newman said by requiring registration, the township can include background checks in the process, as a way of protecting homeowners.
DeMarzo said there were fees related to purchasing software modules for the registration, licensing, and maintenance of the registry. One company was charging $333 per module for five modules and a monthly maintenance fee.
Attorney Lyndsy Newcomb, filling in for township solicitor Anthony Monzo, said there were fees recommended in a draft ordinance, and she suggested pulling them out. Newcomb told the committee it was better to set fees in a resolution, which is more easily changed.
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