Chester health chief outlines enforcement plan, grants and water authority support to tackle lead in homes

Chester health commissioner Dr. Krista Motley on Tuesday laid out a community plan to enforce the city's existing lead ordinance, offer grant funds for home remediation and work with the Chester Water Authority to identify lead service lines.

Motley said the "Lead Poison Prevention and Lead Hazard Control" ordinance (article 1716) was adopted in April 2023 but has not been enforced to date. She told attendees the city plans to begin enforcement in January 2027 and tie proof of a lead-free or lead-safe certificate to rental-registration renewals.

"No one should ever have any lead in their body," Motley said, adding that "lead poisoning is 100% preventable." She described lead as a neurotoxin that produces irreversible developmental harm in young children and elevated risks for adults.

Motley explained landlords must obtain a lead inspection every three years. The ordinance allows two inspection paths: a state-approved lead risk assessor, which Motley said is more comprehensive and typically costs "at least $600 or $700," or a lead-based paint / dust-sampling technician, which she said can range roughly from $125 to $250 per sample.

To help with remediation costs, Motley said the city has secured about $1.3 million in renovation funding: $350,000 from Green & Healthy Homes Initiative and roughly $1,000,000 from the William Penn Foundation. She said she budgeted about $30,000 per home for remediation on planning charts, though she acknowledged actual costs may be lower and any savings could assist more houses.

"We received a grant from Green and Healthy Homes Initiative for $350,000 and we also received a $1,000,000 grant from the William Penn Foundation," Motley said.

Motley and Laura Warner, director of the Delaware County Health Department, described parallel county and Community Action Agency programs that use HUD funding. Warner said county grants generally require the presence in the home of a child under 6 (or a pregnant person) and have income limits; the county can also provide no-cost blood lead screening.

"There needs to be a child under 6 living in the home or a pregnant woman," Warner said, summarizing eligibility rules and noting income documentation has been an enrollment barrier.

Motley said households that qualify for HUD remediation assistance can receive up to $20,000; Chester has budgeted to close gaps when remediation exceeds that amount, offering additional city funds in some cases and up to $30,000 for households that do not qualify for HUD.

She also warned that some funding provided through the Community Action Agency carries a five-year lien on a property that decreases by 20% each year; landlords should consider that term when deciding whether to accept those dollars.

As a local example of enforcement and outreach, Robert, the code enforcement officer for East Lansdowne, described his borough's ordinance and advance landlord outreach. "As of now, we are 92% compliant in all our rentals," he said, adding the borough achieved high compliance by meeting landlords in advance of enforcement.

The Chester Water Authority described efforts to inventory and replace lead service lines. The authority said it is aware of roughly 150 lead service lines on the utility side and estimated replacement costs at about $15,000 per line; officials pointed to PenVEST and state programs as funding sources.

"We have about maybe 150 or so lead service lines that we're aware of on our system," the authority representative said, and estimated that replacing the known lines would cost "2 and a quarter million dollars" at roughly $15,000 per line.

Speakers clarified technical and training differences: a lead risk assessor requires roughly 24 hours of classroom time (three eight-hour days) and a state exam, while a dust-sampling technician typically takes one day of training and sends samples to a lab for analysis.

Motley invited landlords and residents to join a Lead Enforcement and Planning team to help set eligibility rules, allocation priorities and implementation details. She also announced a community event during National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week at the Boys & Girls Club offering testing and outreach.

Motley noted that while lead is not the only driver of poor health outcomes in Chester, it is a significant, preventable factor. "We can do something to prevent lead poisoning," she said. "It's 100% preventable."

The city will proceed with outreach, finalize eligibility and logistics with partner agencies and return to stakeholders with more detailed implementation schedules before the planned January 2027 enforcement start.