It shall be the duty of the Zoning Officer to enforce the provisions of this chapter and such power and authority as is necessary for the enforcement is hereby conferred upon the Zoning Officer. The Zoning Officer shall examine all applications for building permits and land use, and upon determination that all proposed activities are in accordance with the requirements of this chapter and all other relevant chapters, shall authorize issuance of building permits and/or certificates of use and occupancy, as the situation may warrant.

The applicant shall be responsible to submit sufficient data with an application for a building permit or certificate of use and occupancy to enable the Township to review said application for full compliance with the provisions of this and other chapters. The Township reserves the right to request the applicant to submit information certified by a professional engineer or registered surveyor licensed by the State of Pennsylvania, when it is deemed necessary for an accurate review of the application. Particular attention is drawn to the need to submit data necessary to review and calculate the net developable acres of a site.

Building permit administration shall be governed by provisions of the currently adopted Building Code or codes of Covington Township; provided, however, that no building permit shall be issued until the Zoning Officer has certified that the proposed building, structure, addition or alteration thereto complies with all the provisions of this chapter.

In case any building, structure, landscaping or land is, or is proposed to be, erected, constructed, reconstructed, altered, converted, maintained or used in violation of this chapter, the Board of Supervisors or, with the approval of the Board of Supervisors, an officer of the Township, or any aggrieved owner or tenant of real property who shows that his property or person will be substantially affected by the alleged violation, in addition to other remedies, may institute any appropriate action or proceeding to prevent, restrain, correct or abate such building, structure, landscaping or land, or to prevent, in or about such premises, any act, conduct, business or use constituting a violation. When any such action is instituted by a landowner or tenant, notice of that action shall be served upon the Township at least 30 days prior to the time the action is begun by serving a copy of the complaint on the Board of Supervisors. No such action may be maintained until such notice has been given.

Any person, partnership or corporation who or which has violated or permitted the violation of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon being found liable therefore in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Township, pay a judgment of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the Township 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 district justice. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township 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 district justice determining that there has been a violation further determines that there was a good faith basis for the person, partnership or corporation violating this chapter to have believed that there was no such violation, in which event there shall be deemed to have only one such violation until the 5th day following the date of the determination of a violation by the district justice and thereafter each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation. All judgments, costs and reasonable attorney fees collected for violation of the Zoning Chapter shall be paid over to the Township.