Avalon Council has approved the first two readings of an ordinance that will authorize a new, five-year contract with Waste Management for garbage and recycling collection.

The Kilbuck Township Planning Commission has given conditional approval to the Carey's Bluff housing development, with details to be worked out before final approval is received from the township supervisors.

Municipalities that lie beneath a path used b y airplanes to and from the Greater Pittsburgh International Airport will be required to adopt a zoning overlay district that will identify the flight paths and restrict building in those areas.

Avalon became the first municipalities to approve creation of the new zoning district in a unanimous vote by the borough council Tuesday night.

Borough manager Harry Dilmore said that Allegheny County will reimburse municipalities 90 percent of the cost of amending their zoning codes.

Bellevue and Avalon officials will no longer have to debate who will pay how much of the West Bellevue Road sewer repair project. Avalon borough manager Harry Dilmore has obtained a grant that will cover the entire $370,000 projected cost of the mandated work.

People who owe garbage and earned income taxes to Avalon Borough will have a couple months to pay up before the consequences get a lot steeper.

Property owners recently received letters warning of court action if they did not pay delinquent garbage collection fees, according to borough manager Harry Dilmore. Council member Dave Dixon, however, wanted an additional penalty -- advertisement of their names in The Citizen.

Council voted unanimously at its meeting Tuesday to advertise the names of anyone who does not pay a delinquent garbage bill by Jan. 18, 2011.

A rundown property. Absentee owner. Code violations on top of code violations. Months in the court system. Fines levied that are never collected. Liens filed against the property to the point that they exceed the value of the property itself.

This is a far too common scenario in municipalities across the state, as officials struggle to eliminate blight that experts say will spread like the flu if left unchecked, taking down property values in the entire community.

It could have been much worse, but the combination of an effective emergency response plan and what can only be called acts of God prevented an environmental nightmare when a tanker truck carrying a toxic chemical overturned on Union Avenue Wednesday afternoon.

The tanker was traveling down Union Avenue toward the North Boroughs about 3 p.m. when the driver attempted to turn onto the I-279 southbound on-ramp. Officials believe several tires hit a rut beside the ramp, the driver overcompensated, and the tanker flipped.

The owner of property that fronts on a walkway leading to the closed Birmingham Avenue steps in Avalon complained to the borough council Tuesday that the deterioration of the sidewalk has led to a safety hazard for her tenants.

Denise Dyer told council that her property is landlocked, with the walkway being the only access for an ambulance crew, firefighters, or others who may need to reach the house. There was no snow removal last winter, she said, and the walkway continues to deteriorate.

Efforts to demolish an abandoned house in Avalon were finally successful this week, but not in a way officials had hoped.

The house at the end of Semple Avenue took a major slide off its foundation Tuesday evening, making emergency demolition of the building a necessity.

Borough manager Harry Dilmore said that that the borough had condemned the house about 18 months ago after the owner’s attempts to repair the crumbling foundation proved unsuccessful and the bank foreclosed on the property.

A major Avalon thoroughfare will be closed to traffic for at least a week to repair major damage below the road surface caused by an accident last fall.

Kilbuck Township will piggyback on a Ben Avon contract to perform mandatory televising of sanitary sewers.

Township secretary Harry Dilmore reported at the supervisors' Feb. 23 meeting that Kilbuck is likely to get a better price and reduce costs by joining Ben Avon's contract for the work.

Staff in the Avalon administrative offices may have a little extra help this summer, as the borough has been approved to participate in a college internship program with the Local Government Academy.

Borough manager Harry Dilmore told council members at the regular meeting on Tuesday that the borough had been accepted and that he would begin interviewing potential candidates later this week.

He noted that the $4,300 cost to participate in the program will be shared with Kilbuck Township, which also has applied to participate.