Neighborhood Services

General Information

As the name implies, the Department of Neighborhood Services provides a broad range of duties in the public's interest that contribute to the health, safety and welfare of the residents, the business community, workers, our visitors and the public at large.

Neighborhood Services is comprised of six units that perform a variety of activities. The six units are:

• Demolition Unit
• Code Enforcement
• Construction
• Mercantile
• Weights and Measures
• Landlord Tenant Affairs

The activities of these units are oftentimes closely intertwined, yet each unit has distinct and separate duties and responsibilities.

Working Units

The Demolition unit is located within an office inside the Division of Construction. The Division of Construction is located in suite 101 on the first floor of City Hall at 1301 Bacharach Blvd.

The telephone number for the Demolition Unit is (609) 347-5214.

The Demolition Coordinator fills an important role with respect to identifying dangerous buildings, and expediting safe methods of correction of hazards to the community. The DC works in concert with virtually all other city departments, including the police department, fire department, building department, city engineer, and with building owners and contractors.

The Demo Coordinator also works closely with the utility companies to ensure that potential hazards from utilities such as gas and electric, are mitigated before and during demolition projects.

The Mayor and administration have brought about tremendous revitalization in many areas of the community with the assistance of the Demolition Unit. Previously blighted areas have become thriving neighborhoods that provide a wonderful quality of life for the residents.

The efforts of the Demolition Unit address real problems related to blighted and abandoned buildings that are a danger and a detriment to the neighborhood. Abandoned buildings, aside from their inherent structural dangers, are often a haven for distasteful and illegal activities such as drug abuse. Such buildings also often serve as refuge for thugs and criminals, and provide hiding places that impede police enforcement activities.

Abandoned buildings are attractive nuisances to the children of the neighborhoods, often drawing innocent, unsuspecting children into dangerous circumstances.

Demolition of dangerous and blighted buildings is instrumental to the improvement of quality of life and neighborhoods in Atlantic City.

The Code Enforcement Division provides a variety of services that address conditions inside and outside of buildings throughout the city.

Enforcement of the Property Maintenance code ensures that a minimum standard of appearance is maintained on the exterior of properties, and that minimum standards of habitability are maintained inside a variety of residential properties.

Rental properties are primarily governed, to sustain a fair quality of life for the tenants and the residents of the neighborhoods where such properties are located.

The Code Enforcement Officers are continually monitoring conditions of overcrowding, illegal conversions of units, and the detrimental effects such violations may have on the residents and neighbors.

Units that are designed for occupancy for one or two individuals cause many more problems when more tenants than they are designed for occupy them. A simple example is the parking situation. Parking is at a premium within the city, and overcrowding with people leads to overcrowding with vehicles.

There are also detrimental effects on sanitary facilities and services. Sanitary facilities designed for a limited number of tenants become overstressed to the failure point, and health hazards ensue.

The demands on such basic services as trash pickup are severely overstressed when tenant numbers are beyond the limits that the buildings are designed for. Overpopulation burdens virtually city services, including police, fire and emergency, and in some cases even our school system.

The Construction Department governs the building of new structures, as well as the alterations of, and additions to existing structures. The Construction Dept or Building Dept issues permits for such activities, and conducts inspections, and ultimately issues Certificates of Occupancy or Approval to indicate compliant completion of those projects.

The Division of Weights and Measures governs an interesting variety of activities, many of which go unnoticed by the general public. Some examples are checking the accuracy of the scales when fighters weigh in for boxing matches. The hard counts, or coins are counted in the casinos by weight rather than counting, and the Weights and Measures Unit also monitors those scales and equipment for accuracy. Taxi Meters also fall within their purview.

The Division of Landlord Tenant Affairs is responsible for oversight of rental unit with regards to the amounts or rent charged, and related federal, state and local regulations of rental prices.