Upper Darby, PA

Upper Darby Code § 222-30 bars keeping fowl, poultry, sheep, goats, pigs, or other domestic or wild/semi-wild animals on any lot smaller than one acre, effectively ruling out backyard…

Upper Darby Code § 222-41 flatly prohibits keeping any wild animal as a pet and bars owning or displaying a wild or vicious animal for training or exhibition, with a narrow exception…

Upper Darby Code does not list restricted breeds. Instead §§ 222-20 and 222-21 regulate dogs by behavior: a dog that bites a person without good cause is declared vicious and its…

Upper Darby Township Code bars anyone from injuring, annoying or killing birds in a Township park, disturbing waterfowl in park streams, pools or ponds, or removing birds' nests or…

Upper Darby Code § 222-27.2 caps how many bee colonies a lot may hold, scaled to lot size from two colonies on a half-acre lot up to no limit above five acres, and requires a six-foot…

Upper Darby Code § 222-6 requires every dog owner to keep the dog under restraint at all times and bars dogs from being off the owner's property unless leashed and controlled by a…

Upper Darby Code § 222-43 bans letting a cat run at large, and § 222-42 requires every cat off its owner's premises to wear an ID tag or collar with the owner's name, address, and…

County Code § 141-7.A(3) bars feeding any animal or waterfowl in a Delaware County park unless the food is expressly approved by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, closing off the deer…

Pennsylvania sets no statewide cap on how many dogs or cats a household may keep. The line that matters is the Dog Law's kennel definition in § 102: any establishment in or through…

Upper Darby bars audible radios, TVs, stereos and similar sound devices between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. if the sound crosses a property line, a shared wall, or carries 50 feet from a…

Upper Darby caps stationary noise sources at 55 dB(A) in residential zones from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and 50 dB(A) overnight, up to 65 dB(A) in commercial zones at all times, measured at…

Upper Darby bars operating construction, repair, alteration or demolition equipment between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. the next day, on buildings, structures, streets or alleys in any…

Upper Darby Code § 222-19 bars letting a dog bark or howl to the point of becoming a nuisance, but enforcement is unusual: the neighbor bothered by the noise must personally sign a…

Upper Darby caps motor vehicle noise on public streets by vehicle class and speed: 82-88 dB(A) for ordinary cars, 88-92 dB(A) for motorcycles, and up to 96 dB(A) for large trucks…

Upper Darby bars operating a radio, TV, stereo or other sound-reproducing device loud enough to cross a property line between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., or to be "plainly audible" 50…

Delaware County sets no leaf-blower rule. Municipalities do. Middletown Township bars power blowers and other domestic yard tools outdoors from one hour after sunset until 8 a.m. the…

Upper Darby's fire code amendments require smoke alarms in existing buildings undergoing no construction, and in existing areas undergoing alteration or repair, to run on solely…

Upper Darby's amendments to the adopted 2015 International Fire Code make the whole Township a "heavily populated or congested area" under Section 6104.2, restricting where liquefied…

Upper Darby rewrote the Fire Code's portable outdoor fireplace section to allow fire pits and chimineas only if enclosed, fueled properly, kept 15 feet from any structure or…

Upper Darby follows Pennsylvania's fireworks law in Chapter 303: adults 18 and older can buy and use consumer fireworks, but not on Township streets, sidewalks or parks, and not within…

Open burning is regulated by PA DEP air rules (25 Pa. Code §129.14) and by each municipality, not by Delaware County. Southeastern PA counties sit in an air basin where open burning of…

Pennsylvania's Forest Fire Protection Law makes it a crime to set fire to any woodlot, forest, or wild land anywhere in the Commonwealth. Accidental ignition is a misdemeanor…

Upper Darby caps weeds and uncultivated grass at 10 inches under its adopted Property Maintenance Code, and separately bans planting bamboo unless its roots are fully contained at…

Upper Darby's code does not license or regulate a home compost bin; it simply excuses a resident from the leaf-waste separation duty if they compost their own leaves instead of setting…

Upper Darby requires a written Shade Tree Commission permit before any street tree is removed under Code § 506-4, and § 506-8 lets the Commission order removal of a diseased tree after…

Upper Darby requires nine feet of clearance where a tree overhangs a public sidewalk and 11 feet where it overhangs a public street, under Code § 506-7. The duty falls on the private…

Delaware County publishes no lawn-watering schedule. Mandatory outdoor-water restrictions in Pennsylvania take effect only when the Governor declares a drought emergency; the DEP's…

Upper Darby bans parking any bus, tractor-trailer, dump truck, tow truck, concrete mixer, or other heavy commercial vehicle on a Township street between 7:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. under…

Upper Darby bans parking in the front yard of any residential district, requires private driveways to be at least eight feet wide, and forces every driveway to be paved in a solid…

Every commercial, office, retail, manufacturing or industrial building in Upper Darby must provide off-street loading space under § 550-34, sized at least 14 feet wide and 50 feet…

Pennsylvania, not the county, defines an abandoned vehicle. Under 75 Pa.C.S. §102, a vehicle is presumed abandoned once it sits inoperable or illegally on public property more than 48…

Delaware County has no countywide overnight on-street parking ban; that is set by each municipality. The one county rule: in county parks, no vehicle may be left parked on park…

A Pennsylvania private parking lot cannot tow you unless it is posted. Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3353(b)(2) the trespass-parking rule does not reach a private parking lot at all unless the…

Upper Darby requires a building permit before installing an in-ground pool or private swimming pool. The Department of Licenses and Inspections charges a $45.50 application fee plus…

Upper Darby requires every swimming pool, public or private, to be surrounded by a fence meeting the barrier standards of the International Property Maintenance Code, under §…

Upper Darby requires a fence permit before erecting or replacing any fence, at a cost of $40 plus $20 per $1,000 of the work's value. Retaining walls under four feet also need a fence…

Upper Darby's zoning code requires the finished side of a fence, the side without posts, to face away from the dwelling or building it belongs to. The Zoning Officer enforces this and…

Upper Darby bans barbed wire, metal spikes, razor ribbon and electrified fencing on any fence, and limits chain-link to rear and side yards outside the R-3 and R-4 Districts, under §…

Retaining walls under four feet tall in Upper Darby need only a fence permit, while anything over four feet requires a full building permit, under § 550-39C(4) of the Zoning Code…

Fences in Upper Darby cap out at six feet above grade townshipwide, dropping to four feet for front yards in the R-3 Residence District, under § 550-39C of the Zoning Code. Fences also…

Upper Darby caps accessory buildings, including sheds, at 15 feet in height and bars them from required front yards or within three feet of the main house. Placement can't block sight…

Upper Darby allows accessory dwelling units only by special exception in single-family detached or semidetached homes, and only if the unit is physically connected to the main house or…

Upper Darby bars renting an accessory dwelling unit on the open market: § 550-17B(2) limits occupancy to people related to the principal dwelling's occupants by blood, adoption or…

Upper Darby allows non-impact home occupations by right if they use only resident family labor, generate no outside business appearance, and occupy no more than 25% of the home's…

Upper Darby caps in-home child care at five non-resident children under 16, restricts operating hours to 7 a.m.-6 p.m. weekdays, and requires the operator to hold a certificate of…

Upper Darby's by-right home occupation category only covers businesses with zero customer, client or patient traffic, vehicular or pedestrian, beyond what a normal residence would…

Upper Darby's home occupation ordinance flatly bars any outside sign advertising a home-based business. § 550-41B(4) says a non-impact home occupation, the only category of home…

Pennsylvania has no cottage food exemption. To sell home-baked goods you register your home kitchen as a 'limited food establishment' with the PA Department of Agriculture, get…

Delaware County, PA levies a Hotel and Short Term Rental occupancy tax. Effective April 1, 2026 the rate is 5%, due on rentals to all persons. Stays over 30 consecutive days…

Before any earth disturbance begins, Upper Darby Township requires a PADEP-approved erosion and sediment control plan under Title 25 Chapter 102 plus a municipal grading and erosion…

Upper Darby Township requires an approved Stormwater Management (SWM) site plan under Chapter 465 before any regulated land development, redevelopment or earth-disturbance activity…

Upper Darby's noise chapter bars a commercial motor vehicle from idling unnecessarily while loading or unloading, or standing in anticipation of it, regardless of decibel level, with…

Upper Darby requires a Floodplain Administrator permit before any construction or development begins inside a mapped floodplain, under Chapter 305 implementing the state's 1978 Flood…

New construction or substantial improvement inside an Upper Darby floodplain is prohibited outright unless a variance is granted, and even then Section 305-24 requires the lowest floor…

Upper Darby Township Code flatly bars placing any structure or object in the pedestrian right-of-way that would block foot traffic or make it unsafe to cross. The same article also…

Upper Darby places the cost of building, repairing and maintaining curbs, sidewalks and driveway aprons on the owner of the abutting property, once the Township sends written notice…

Upper Darby bars anyone from placing a fixed structure connected to a commercial use in the public right-of-way without a written agreement with the Township, and requires a separate…

Upper Darby bars loading, unloading or handling boxes, crates and containers between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. if it causes a noise disturbance, and separately bars letting a commercial…

Upper Darby requires exterior burglar alarms on buildings and motor vehicles to shut off within 15 minutes of activation. Letting an alarm sound past that limit is a specific noise…

Upper Darby requires anyone peddling or soliciting house-to-house or on public streets and sidewalks to first obtain a license from the Department of Licenses and Inspections, with a…

Upper Darby residents can post a 'No Solicitation' sign at their home, and any peddler, solicitor or sermonizer, licensed or not, is barred from soliciting at that property once the…

Musical or theatrical events, overnight camping, and any picnic or gathering over 25 people in an Upper Darby park require a free special permit from the Director of Leisure Services…

Upper Darby allows outdoor dining only as an accessory use to a full-service sit-down restaurant in the C-1 and C-3 commercial districts. Furnishings are limited to tables, chairs…

Upper Darby treats selling food from a truck or cart on a public street as peddling: a license is required, sales are barred within 75 feet of any street or highway intersection, and…

Upper Darby treats a food truck or vending vehicle as a regulated food establishment: operating one without a Department of Public Health license is unlawful, and the Township charges…

Upper Darby requires a Department of Public Health license before operating any food establishment, a definition that expressly includes a vehicle used to sell or prepare food. Mobile…

Upper Darby stripped out every exception to the Fire Code's open-flame cooking device rule, Section 308.1.4, so the standard restriction on charcoal and propane grills near buildings…

Upper Darby parks close to the public from 7:30 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. daily, extended to 10:30 p.m. at facilities with night-lighting, unless an overnight camping permit was obtained…

Upper Darby bans anyone 17 or younger from being on Township streets between 10:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and between midnight and 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday…

Upper Darby property owners, tenants and property managers must clear a path at least 36 inches wide on their sidewalk within 24 hours after snow stops falling, and vacant buildings…

Upper Darby bans dumping litter on any open or vacant private lot, occupied or not, under Section 358-10 of the Township's litter ordinance. A Department of Public Works, Licenses and…

Upper Darby's Neighborhood Blight Reclamation and Revitalization Ordinance lets the Township sue owners of seriously code-violating or nuisance properties for penalties and cleanup…

Upper Darby's Mercantile Tax splits businesses into three rate classes: wholesale, retail, and combined wholesale-and-retail. Wholesale volume is taxed at one mill and retail volume at…

Upper Darby Township Code Chapter 216 makes it a summary offense to drink alcohol or carry an open container on any public way or place in the Township. A single violation carries a…

Upper Darby decriminalized personal marijuana use and possession of a small amount in 2020: instead of an arrest, Section 362-3 makes it a summary citation carrying a flat $75 fine…

Delaware County bars urinating or defecating anywhere in a county park except in the restroom facilities the county provides. The rule is a single sentence inside Chapter 141's list of…

Delaware County lets its Parks Board designate no-smoking zones inside county parks, covering e-cigarettes and vaping as well as traditional smoking. The rule does not ban smoking…

Every single-family, multi-family, or rooming house rental in Upper Darby must carry a valid, non-transferable operating license issued by Licenses and Inspection, renewed every year…

When Upper Darby's Department of Licenses and Inspections or Department of Public Health certifies a rental dwelling unfit for human habitation, tenants may stop paying rent to the…

Under 68 P.S. Section 250.501, a Pennsylvania landlord must serve a written notice to quit before eviction: 10 days for nonpayment of rent, and 15 days (term of one year or less) or 30…

Pennsylvania Landlord-Tenant Act establishes uniform eviction notice and procedure requirements applicable statewide, governing all residential tenancy terminations universally.

Pennsylvania's Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 caps a residential security deposit at two months' rent during the first year and one month's rent in the second and later years…

Pennsylvania's general adverse possession period is 21 years under 42 Pa.C.S. Section 5530. A shorter 10-year period applies under 42 Pa.C.S. Section 5527.1 to a parcel of one-half…

Upper Darby limits how residents may set out household refuse: containers must be metal or plastic, no full container with contents may exceed 40 pounds, and no dwelling unit may put…

Residents already on Township refuse collection can arrange a separate bulk trash pickup for items like white goods and large appliances that cannot go out with regular refuse. The…

Upper Darby requires leaf waste, meaning leaves, garden residue and tree trimmings but not grass clippings, to be kept separate from both refuse and recyclables and stored until…

Upper Darby residents may not put refuse containers at the curb more than eight hours before the scheduled collection day, and empty containers must come back off the sidewalk or alley…

Upper Darby runs a mandatory recycling collection program for every household's municipal waste, and residents may not put refuse out for pickup without first separating recyclables…

Upper Darby bans anyone from accumulating or disposing of solid waste on any property except through licensed collection channels, and separately bars using any property as a public or…

Upper Darby Township collects refuse directly from every residential building under Chapter 461, billing property owners for the service rather than leaving pickup to private haulers…

Upper Darby supplies the recycling containers and controls how they're used: recyclables must be stored until collection, put out in Township-issued bins no more than eight hours…

When a regular Upper Darby collection day falls on a legal holiday, residents may not set out ashes, rubbish or recyclables until the evening of that holiday, for pickup the following…

Anyone placing a dumpster, open-top container or portable storage container on an Upper Darby street needs a Department of Licenses and Inspection permit, and the container must carry…

Upper Darby treats any store devoting 15% or more of retail floor space to tobacco or vaping products as a smoke shop, requiring a special exception, a 1,000-foot buffer from other…

Upper Darby flatly prohibits vehicle repair as a home occupation. It is one of twelve uses listed in § 550-41C that cannot be run out of a residential dwelling under any circumstances…

Every business and residence building in Upper Darby must be ratproofed and kept rat-free, and owners have only five days after written notice from the Health Officer to start…

Upper Darby doesn't run its own food handler test: Section 328-9 simply adopts Pennsylvania's Food Employee Certification Act, 3 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6501-6510, as the certification standard…

Upper Darby's Property Maintenance Code bars anyone from planting, cultivating, or letting bamboo grow directly in the ground anywhere in the Township. Bamboo is allowed only inside a…

Upper Darby's single-family bulk table caps building coverage at 25% for 15,000-square-foot R-C lots (20% for 20,000-square-foot R-C lots without sewer), 20% flat in R-C-1, and 30% in…

Upper Darby caps single-family detached homes at 35 feet in every base residential district: R-C, R-C-1, R-1 and R-2. Table 4-1 of the zoning ordinance sets the same ceiling regardless…

Upper Darby's R-1 zoning district requires a 25-foot minimum front yard, a 10-foot minimum side yard (25 feet aggregate), and a 20-foot rear yard, per the development-standards table…

No one may rent, lease, or let out a dwelling or rooming unit in Upper Darby without first securing an annual rental dwelling license, and the Township's L&I officials must inspect the…

Upper Darby requires carbon monoxide alarms outside bedrooms in any dwelling unit that has fuel-fired appliances or an attached garage. Schools with fuel-fired equipment in or near…

Before any property in Upper Darby changes hands, it must pass a municipal inspection, and the outcome sets which certificate the buyer gets: a full use and occupancy certificate for…

Upper Darby enforces the ICC Electrical Code as part of its adopted Uniform Construction Code, and only a licensed master electrician representing a contracting company may apply for…

Upper Darby enforces the International Plumbing Code as part of its adopted Uniform Construction Code, with plumbing permit fees set by the Township Fee Ordinance and specific local…

Upper Darby has no mandatory green building code. Instead, § 550-23G(1) of the zoning ordinance dangles up to 40 feet of extra building height in the Traditional Downtown Business…

Upper Darby requires an NFPA 13D fire sprinkler system and an NFPA 72 fire alarm system throughout any group living quarters use, an added life-safety mandate imposed as a condition of…

Upper Darby requires a separate permit for every structure on a parcel, with building, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire and energy permits all issued separately. The minimum…

In the C-3 Traditional Downtown Business District, Upper Darby offers up to 40 extra feet of building height, on top of the base 85-foot limit, in exchange for public-benefit features…

Upper Darby's C-3 Traditional Downtown Business District rules require new development to match the district's historic character and scale, with pedestrian walkways at least five feet…

Upper Darby requires a written Shade Tree Commission permit before any tree is planted along a public street, and Code § 506-5 sets the setbacks: no tree within five feet of a…

Upper Darby's bicycle ordinance bans riding on sidewalks within any business district or place of public gathering, forbids interfering with pedestrians who use the street with due…

Motorized vehicles are banned from Delaware County parks, but the County Parks and Recreation Department carves out pedal-assist e-bikes and motorized mobility scooters on trails…

Pennsylvania draws a hard line between a golf cart and a neighborhood electric vehicle. Chapter 77A of the Vehicle Code makes it unlawful to operate a golf cart on any highway at all…

Commercial window signs in Upper Darby count toward the building's overall attached-sign allowance and cannot cover more than 25% of the window under § 550-37G(3). At least 75% of each…

Upper Darby exempts yard sale and garage sale signs from the township's sign permit requirement, but caps them at two square feet and requires removal within 24 hours after the sale…

Upper Darby treats political, educational, charitable, civic and religious campaign signs as exempt from the township's sign permit requirement under § 550-37F(12) of the Zoning Code…

Upper Darby confines billboards to the C-2 and C-4 Districts, caps them at 300 square feet, and requires 500 feet of separation from the next billboard. A changeable electronic…

Upper Darby's parking area design standards bar glare from lighting fixtures from reflecting beyond the lot on which the lights are installed, on top of a separate general duty to…

Upper Darby's zoning code keeps medical marijuana dispensaries and grower/processor facilities 1,000 feet from every public, private and parochial school and day-care center, measured…

Upper Darby zones medical marijuana dispensaries and grower/processor facilities as permitted, by-right uses in the C-4 Commercial-Industrial District under § 550-24B, subject to…

Pennsylvania prohibits home cultivation of cannabis by patients, caregivers, and recreational users. The Medical Marijuana Act limits production to state-permitted growers, and…

Delaware County bans flying drones, model aircraft, model vehicles and model boats in its parks except in areas the Parks and Recreation Department has designated for that use, or…

Commercial drone operators in Pennsylvania must hold an FAA Part 107 certificate and comply with state crimes under Act 78 of 2018 (18 Pa.C.S. Section 3505). That law preempts local…

Pennsylvania Act 78 of 2018 (18 Pa.C.S. Section 3505) criminalizes drone surveillance of a private place, menacing operation, and contraband delivery, and preempts most local drone…

Pennsylvania is a shall-issue state requiring a License to Carry Firearms (LTCF) issued by the county sheriff for concealed carry or carry in a vehicle, with statewide rules under 18…

Pennsylvania law comprehensively preempts local regulation of firearms under 18 Pa.C.S. §6120. Cities and counties cannot regulate lawful ownership, possession, transfer, or…

Open carry of firearms is generally legal in Pennsylvania for adults 18 or older without a permit outside Philadelphia, but a License to Carry Firearms is required statewide for…

Under 18 Pa.C.S. Section 6106, carrying a firearm in a vehicle anywhere in Pennsylvania generally requires a valid License to Carry Firearms, with limited exceptions for unloaded…

Pennsylvania caps mini-casinos at ten Category 4 slot machine licenses statewide under 4 Pa.C.S. § 1305.1, each barred from sitting within 25 linear miles of an existing Category 1, 2…

Pennsylvania nonprofits can't run raffles, punchboards, or 50/50 drawings for charity until their own municipality's voters approve it in a referendum. Once approved, the county…

Pennsylvania's gambling code has no social-game or private-residence exception. 18 Pa.C.S. § 5513 makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to let people 'collect and assemble for the…

Pennsylvania channels all sports wagering through Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board certificates, and only an existing slot machine licensee can hold one under 4 Pa.C.S. § 13C11…

Under Pennsylvania's Uniform Planned Community Act, 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315, an association has an automatic lien on a unit for unpaid assessments and fines from the time they become due…

A Pennsylvania association's bylaws must call at least one owners' meeting a year, and notice has to go out not less than ten and not more than 60 days before it, stating the time, the…

Pennsylvania's American, Commonwealth and Military Flag Act overrides any HOA covenant that bans flags. Whatever the declaration says, an association may not stop a unit owner from…

Pennsylvania sets no dollar ceiling on a homeowners association fine. Under the Uniform Planned Community Act, 68 Pa.C.S. § 5302(a)(11), an association may levy "reasonable fines" for…

A Pennsylvania planned community association gets a lien on a lot the moment an assessment or fine falls due, and 68 Pa.C.S. § 5315(a) lets it foreclose that lien in a like manner as a…

Sobriety checkpoints are lawful in Pennsylvania, and the authority is a single clause in 75 Pa.C.S. § 6308(b) permitting an officer to stop a vehicle whenever he is engaged in a…

Pennsylvania is an all-party consent state, and 18 Pa.C.S. § 5703 grades an intentional interception of an oral communication as a felony of the third degree, one of the harshest…

Pennsylvania has never enacted a general stop-and-identify statute, so a person stopped on the street in this Commonwealth has no statutory duty to state a name or produce…

Pennsylvania does not require an officer to obtain written consent before searching a car, and it does not require a warning that you may refuse. Since 5 December 2025 it does require…

Pennsylvania protects agricultural land through Agricultural Security Areas under Act 43 of 1981 and the Agricultural Area Security Law, working alongside municipal zoning to limit…

Pennsylvania's Right to Farm Act (Act 133 of 1982, 3 P.S. §951 et seq.) protects established agricultural operations from local nuisance lawsuits and overly restrictive municipal…

Pennsylvania Act 112 of 2019 raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco and e-cigarettes to 21, aligning with the federal Tobacco 21 law (Dec 2019). The state law covers all tobacco…

Pennsylvania does not currently impose a statewide ban on flavored tobacco or menthol cigarettes, though federal FDA marketing rules restrict which flavored vape products and…

Pennsylvania allows a passenger vehicle or light truck exactly one pair of approved auxiliary driving lamps and fog lamps, mounted at least 20 inches apart from center to center and no…

Pennsylvania has never written a dash cam allowance into the Vehicle Code. 75 Pa.C.S. § 4524(a) bars nontransparent material on the front windshield that materially obstructs the…

Lane splitting is expressly illegal in Pennsylvania. Section 3523(c) of the Vehicle Code says no person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or…

Pennsylvania flatly prohibits a tinted registration plate cover. Section 1332(b)(5) of the Vehicle Code makes it unlawful to display a plate that "has a tinted plate cover," with no…

A radar detector is legal in a private passenger vehicle in Pennsylvania. The full text of Title 75, the Vehicle Code, contains no occurrence of the word "detector" at all, and the…

Studded snow tires are legal in Pennsylvania only between November 1 and April 15 of the following year, and the studs may project no more than two thirty-seconds of an inch beyond the…

Pennsylvania sets no separate front-and-rear tint percentages the way most states do. 75 Pa.C.S. § 4524(e)(1) simply bars driving with any sun screening device that does not permit a…