The provisions of this chapter shall be administered by the Bethany Beach Building Inspector and enforced by him or her and other Town officials, including the police. The Building Inspector will be provided with the assistance of such other persons as the Town Council may direct. His or her duties shall include inspecting premises and construction thereon.

Certificates of occupancy shall be issued in accordance with the following provisions:

It shall be the duty of the Building Inspector to keep a record of all building permits and certificates of occupancy issued, with a notation of all special conditions involved. The Building Inspector shall file and safely keep copies of all applications, including sketches and plans submitted, and the same shall form a part of the records of Bethany Beach.

For any violation of the provisions of this chapter, the owner, general agent or contractor of a building or premises where such violations have been committed or shall exist and the lessee or tenant of an entire building or entire premises where such violations have been committed or shall exist and the owner, general agent, contractor, lessee or tenant of any part of a building or premises in which such violation has been committed or shall exist and the general agent, architect, builder, contractor or any other person who commits, takes part in or assists in any such violation or maintains any building or premises in which such violation shall exist, upon conviction thereof, shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter and shall, upon conviction thereof, pay such fines as set out in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article I, Penalties; provided, however, that penalties assessed for any violation of § 425-43, 425-57, 425-64 or 425-73 will not be imposed until 30 days after written notification of such violation is issued or until January 2, 1992, whichever is the later date. Each day any violation or any provision of this chapter occurs or continues to exist shall constitute a separate violation and shall be subject to a separate penalty as above provided.

Any building or portion thereof or party or foundation wall hereafter erected or placed upon any lot or premises within the Town in violation of the provisions of this chapter is hereby declared a common nuisance and shall be abated in the manner provided by § 425-99 of this chapter or as may otherwise be provided by state law.

At any time it appears to the Building Inspector or Town Manager that any construction is being undertaken in violation of any provision of this zoning chapter, either may issue a stop-work order or revoke the building permit under which such work is being performed; provided, however, that prior to issuance of any stop-work order or revocation of any building permit under this section, the Town Building Inspector or Town Manager shall provide the contractor or builder on site with written notice of the alleged zoning chapter violation, which notice shall state specifically the nature of the violation with reference to pertinent sections of the zoning chapter and specify a place and time (not less than 24 hours and not more than 72 hours from the delivery of such notice) where the Building Inspector or Town Manager will sit to hear the builder/contractor and/or owner on the issue of whether or not the construction is in violation of the zoning chapter. The Building Inspector or Town Manager shall promptly attempt to provide the owner of record of such lands with actual notice by telephone, FAX, email, etc. and shall immediately send a copy of such written notice to the owner of record at his or her address as shown on the Town public records; but failure of the record owner to receive such notice shall not void the hearing so long as the contractor or builder on site received actual notice. At the hearing, the contractor/builder and/or owner may appear with or without counsel to be heard on the issue of whether or not construction is in violation of the zoning chapter. A recording of the hearing shall be made and retained at the Town office for 90 days. If the person conducting the hearing concludes at the end thereof that construction is proceeding in violation of the zoning chapter, he or she shall issue a stop-work order or revoke the building permit, as appropriate. In such event, no building permit shall be reissued and no stop-work order shall be lifted until the violation has been corrected.

In case any building or structure is erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered, repaired, converted or maintained or any building, structure or land is used in violation of this chapter or of any ordinance or other regulation made under authority conferred thereby, the appropriate municipal authority, in addition to other remedies, may institute any appropriate action or proceeding to prevent or abate such violation.