[Amended 8-14-1996 by Ord. No. 96-330]
A. Any person, partnership
or corporation who or which has violated or permitted the violation
of the provisions of any zoning ordinance enacted under this act or
prior enabling laws shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil
enforcement proceeding commenced by a municipality, pay a judgment
of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney
fees incurred by a municipality as a result thereof. No judgment shall
commence or be imposed, levied or payable until the date of the determination
of a violation by the Magisterial District Judge. If the defendant
neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the municipality may
enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable Rules of Civil Procedure.
Each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation,
unless the Magisterial District Judge determining that there has been
a violation further determines that there was a good faith basis for
the person, partnership or corporation violating the ordinance to
have believed that there was no such violation, in which event there
shall be deemed to have been only one such violation until the fifth
day following the date of the determination of a violation by the
Magisterial District Judge and thereafter each day that a violation
continues shall constitute a separate violation. All judgments, costs
and reasonable attorney fees collected for the violation of zoning
ordinances shall be paid over to the municipality whose ordinance
has been violated.
B. The court of
common pleas, upon petition, may grant an order of stay, upon cause
shown, tolling the per diem fine pending a final adjudication of the
violation and judgment.
C. Nothing contained
in this section shall be construed or interpreted to grant to any
person or entity other than the municipality the right to commence
any action for enforcement pursuant to this section.