For the administration of this chapter, a Zoning Officer, who shall not hold any elective office in the Borough, shall be appointed.

The Zoning Officer shall meet the qualifications established by the Borough and shall be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Borough a working knowledge of municipal zoning.

The Zoning Officer shall administer this chapter in accordance with its literal terms, and shall not have the power to permit any construction or any use or change of use which does not conform to this chapter.

The Zoning Officer is hereby authorized to institute civil enforcement proceedings as a means of enforcement when acting within the scope of his employment.

Zoning Permits. Zoning permits shall hereafter be secured from the Zoning Officer's office prior to the issuance of a building permit for the construction, erection, or alteration of a structure or sign or part of a structure or upon a change in the use of a structure or land.

Building Permits. It shall be unlawful to commence the excavation for, or the construction of, any building, including accessory buildings, or to commence the moving or alteration of any building, including accessory buildings, until the Zoning Officer has issued a building permit for such work.

Special Exception. Applications for any special exception permitted by this chapter shall be made to the Zoning Hearing Board through the Zoning Officer. The Zoning Hearing Board shall refer the matter to the Planning Commission for a report thereon as to its effect on the comprehensive planning of the Borough pursuant to § 1509 of this chapter.

Temporary Use Permits. It is recognized that it may be in accordance with the purpose of this chapter to permit temporary activities for a limited period of time, which activities may be prohibited by other provisions of this chapter. If such uses are of such a nature and are so located that, at the time of petition, they will:

Certificate of Occupancy. It shall be unlawful to use or permit the use of any building or premises or part thereof hereafter created, located, erected, changed, converted or enlarged wholly or partly until a certificate of occupancy has been issued for that premises, certifying that the structure or use complies with the provisions of this chapter. Such occupancy permits shall be granted or denied within 15 days from the date that a written application is filed with the Zoning Officer. In the event that the issuance of a certificate of occupancy is denied upon application therefore, the Zoning Officer shall notify the Zoning Hearing Board in writing of his action and the specific reasons therefore.

It shall be the duty of the Zoning Officer to keep a record of all applications for building and zoning permits, all permits issued and all certificates of occupancy which he countersigns, together with a notation of all special conditions involved. He shall file and safely keep copies of all plans submitted, and the same shall be available for the use of the Borough Council.

The Zoning Officer shall prepare a monthly report for the Council summarizing for the period since his last previous report all zoning permits issued and certificates countersigned by him and all complaints of violations and the action taken by him consequent thereon.

There is hereby created for the Borough a Zoning Hearing Board in accordance with the provisions of Article IX of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10901 et seq.

The membership of the Board shall consist of three residents of the Borough appointed by resolution by the Borough Council. The terms of office shall be for three years and shall be so fixed that the term of office of one member shall expire each year. The Board shall promptly notify the Borough Council of any vacancies which occur. Appointments to fill vacancies shall be only for the unexpired portion of the term. Members of the Board shall hold no other office in the Borough.

Any Board member may be removed for malfeasance, misfeasance or nonfeasance in office or for other just cause by a majority vote of the Borough Council which appointed the member, taken after the member has received 15 days' advance notice of the intent to take such a vote. A hearing shall be held in connection with the vote if the member shall request it in writing.

The Board shall elect from its own membership its officers, who shall serve annual terms as such and may succeed themselves. For the conduct of any hearing and the taking of any action a quorum shall be not less than a majority of all the members of the Board, but the Board may appoint a hearing officer from its own membership to conduct any hearing on its behalf and the parties may waive further action by the Board as provided in this chapter.

The Board may make, alter and rescind rules and forms for its procedure, consistent with ordinances of the Borough and laws of the Commonwealth. The Board shall keep full public records of its business, which records shall be the property of the Borough and shall submit a report of its activities to the Borough Council as requested by the Borough Council.

Within the limits of funds appropriated by the Borough Council, the Board may employ or contract for secretaries, clerks, legal counsel, consultants and other technical and clerical services. Members of the Board may receive compensation for the performance of their duties, as may be fixed by the Borough Council, but in no case shall it exceed the rate of compensation authorized to be paid to the members of the Borough Council.

Public notice shall be given and written notice shall be given to the applicant, the Zoning Officer and to any person who has made timely request for the same. Written notices shall be given at such time and in such manner as shall be prescribed by rules of the Board. In addition to the written notice provided herein, written notice of said hearing shall be conspicuously posted on the affected tract of land at least one week prior to the hearing.

The hearing shall be held within 60 days from the date of the applicant's request, unless the applicant has agreed in writing to an extension of time.

The hearings shall be conducted by the Board or the Board may appoint any member as a hearing officer. The decision, or, where no decision is called for, the findings shall be made by the Board, however, the appellant or the applicant, as the case may be, in addition to the Borough, may, prior to the decision of the hearing, waive decision or findings by the Board and accept the decision or findings of the hearing officer as final.

The parties to the hearing shall be the Borough, any person affected by the application who has made timely appearance of record before the Board, and any other person including civic or community organizations permitted to appear by the Board. The Board shall have power to require that all persons who wish to be considered parties enter appearances in writing on forms provided by the Board for that purpose.

The chairman or acting chairman of the Board or the hearing officer presiding shall have power to administer oaths and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of relevant documents and papers, including witnesses and documents requested by the parties.

The parties shall have the right to be represented by counsel and shall be afforded the opportunity to respond and present evidence and argument and cross-examine adverse witnesses on all relevant issues.

Formal rules of evidence shall not apply, but irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitious evidence may be excluded.

The Board or the hearing officer, as the case may be, shall keep a stenographic record of the proceedings. The appearance fee for a stenographer shall be shared equally by the applicant and the Board. The cost of the original transcript shall be paid by the Board if the transcript is ordered by the Board or hearing officer or shall be paid by the person appealing from the decision of the Board if such appeal is made, and in either event the cost of additional copies shall be paid by the person requesting such copy or copies. In other cases the party requesting the original transcript shall bear the cost thereof.

The Board or the hearing officer shall not communicate, directly or indirectly, with any party or his representatives in connection with any issue involved except upon notice and opportunity for all parties to participate, shall not take notice of any communication, reports, staff memoranda, or other materials, except advice from their solicitor, unless the parties are afforded an opportunity to contest the material so noticed and shall not inspect the site or its surroundings after the commencement of hearings with any party or his representative unless all parties are given an opportunity to be present.

The Board or the hearing officer, as the case may be, shall render a written decision or, when no decision is called for, make written findings on the application within 45 days after the last hearing before the Board or hearing officer. Where the application is contested or denied, each decision shall be accompanied by findings of fact and conclusions based thereon together with the reasons therefor. Conclusions based on any provisions of this chapter or of any law, ordinance, rule or regulation shall contain a reference to the provision relied on and the reasons why the conclusion is deemed appropriate in the light of the facts found. If the hearing is conducted by a hearing officer, and there has been no stipulation that his decision or findings are final, the Board shall make his report and recommendations available to the parties within 45 days and the parties shall be entitled to make written representations thereon to the Board prior to final decision or entry of findings, and the Board's decision shall be entered no later than 30 days after the report of the hearing officer. Where the Board fails to render the decision within the period required by this subsection, or fails to hold the required hearing within 60 days from the date of the applicant's request for a hearing, the decision shall be deemed to have been rendered in favor of the applicant unless the applicant has agreed in writing or on the record to an extension of time. When a decision has been rendered in favor of the applicant because of the failure of the Board to meet or render a decision as hereinabove provided, the Board shall give public notice of the said decision within 10 days from the last day it could have met to render a decision in the same manner as provided in Subsection (1) of this section. If the Board shall fail to provide such notice, the applicant may do so. Nothing in this subsection shall prejudice the right of any party opposing the application to appeal the decision to a court of competent jurisdiction.

A copy of the final decision or, where no decision is called for, of the findings shall be delivered to the applicant personally or mailed to him not later than the day following its date. To all other persons who have filed their name and address with the Board not later than the last day of the hearing, the Board shall provide by mail or otherwise, brief notice of the decision or findings and a statement of the place at which the full decision or findings may be examined.

The Borough Council shall establish, by resolution, fees with respect to hearings before the Zoning Hearing Board.

The Zoning Hearing Board shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and render final adjudications in the following matters:

The Borough Council, shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and render final adjudications in the following matters:

The Zoning Hearing Board shall hear requests for variances where it is alleged that the provisions of this chapter inflict unnecessary hardship upon the applicant. The Board may by rule prescribe the form of application and may require preliminary application to the Zoning Officer. The Board may grant a variance, provided that all of the following findings are made where relevant in a given case:

In granting any variance, the Board may attach such reasonable conditions and safeguards as it may deem necessary to implement the purposes of this chapter and the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq.

Where the Borough Council, in this chapter, has stated special exceptions to be granted or denied by the Zoning Hearing Board pursuant to express standards and criteria, the Board shall hear and decide requests for such special exceptions in accordance with such standards and criteria. In granting a special exception, the Board may attach such reasonable conditions and safeguards, in addition to those expressed in this chapter, as it may deem necessary to implement the purposes of this chapter and the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53, P.S. § 10101, et seq.

The special exception use shall be designed to provide satisfactory arrangement for:

No person shall be allowed to file any proceeding with the Zoning Hearing Board later than 30 days after an application for development, preliminary or final, has been approved by the Borough if such proceeding is designed to secure reversal or to limit the approval in any manner unless such person alleges and proves that he had no notice, knowledge or reason to believe that such approval had been given. If such person has succeeded to his interest after such approval, he shall be bound by the knowledge of his predecessor in interest. The failure of anyone other than the landowner to appeal from an adverse decision on a tentative plan or from an adverse decision by the Zoning Officer on a challenge to the validity of this chapter or an amendment hereto or map or an amendment thereto shall preclude an appeal from a final approval except in the case where the final submission substantially deviates from the approved tentative approval.

All appeals from determinations adverse to the landowner shall be filed by the landowner within 30 days after notice of the determination is issued.

Upon filing of any appeal proceeding before the Zoning Hearing Board and during its pendency before the Board, all land development pursuant to any challenged ordinance, order or approval of the Zoning Officer or of any agency or body, and all official action thereunder, shall be stayed unless the Zoning Officer or any other appropriate agency or body certifies to the Board facts indicating that such stay would cause imminent peril to life or property, in which case the development or official action shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order, which may be granted by the Board or by the court having jurisdiction of zoning appeals, on petition, after notice to the Zoning Officer or other appropriate agency or body. When an application for development, preliminary or final, has been duly approved and proceedings designed to reverse or limit the approval are filed with the Board by persons other than the applicant, the applicant may petition the court having jurisdiction of zoning appeals to order such persons to post bond as a condition to continuing the proceedings before the Board.

After the petition is presented, the court shall hold a hearing to determine if the filing of the appeal is frivolous. At the hearing, evidence may be presented on the merits of the case. It shall be the burden of the applicant for a bond to prove the appeal is frivolous. After consideration of all evidence presented, if the court determines that the appeal is frivolous, it shall grant the petition for a bond. The right to petition the court to order the appellants to post bond may be waived by the appellee, but such waiver may be revoked by him if an appeal is taken from a final decision of the court.

The question whether or not such petition should be granted and the amount of the bond shall be within the sound discretion of the court. An order denying a petition for bond shall be interlocutory. An order directing the responding party to post a bond shall be interlocutory.

If an appeal is taken by a respondent to the petition for a bond from an order of the court dismissing a zoning appeal for refusal to post a bond and the appellate court sustains the order of the court below to post a bond, the respondent to the petition for a bond, upon motion of the petitioner and after hearing in the court having jurisdiction of zoning appeals, shall be liable for all reasonable costs, expenses and attorney fees incurred by the petitioner.

If it appears to the Borough that a violation of this chapter has occurred, the Borough shall initiate enforcement proceedings by sending an enforcement notice as provided in this section.

The enforcement notice shall be sent to the owner of record of the parcel on which the violation has occurred, to any person who has filed a written request to receive enforcement notices regarding that parcel, and to any other person requested in writing by the owner of record.

An enforcement notice shall state at least the following:

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 therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Borough, pay a judgment of not more than $500 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the Borough 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 Borough 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 been 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.

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.

Nothing contained in this section shall be construed or interpreted to grant to any person or entity other than the Borough the right to commence any action for enforcement pursuant to this section.

District justices shall have initial jurisdiction over proceedings brought under this section.

The Borough Council may from time to time amend, supplement, or repeal any of the regulations and provisions of this chapter. The procedure for the preparation of a proposed zoning ordinance as set forth in § 607 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10607, is hereby declared optional.

Before voting on the enactment of an amendment, the Borough Council shall hold a public hearing thereon, pursuant to public notice. In addition, if the proposed amendment involves a zoning map change, notice of said public hearing shall be conspicuously posted by the Borough at points deemed sufficient by the Borough along the perimeter of the tract to notify potentially interested citizens. The affected tract or area shall be posted at least one week prior to the date of the hearing.

In the case of an amendment other than that prepared by the Planning Commission the Borough Council shall submit each such amendment to the Planning Commission at least 30 days prior to the hearing on such proposed amendment to provide the Planning Commission an opportunity to submit recommendations.

If, after any public hearing held upon an amendment, the proposed amendment is changed substantially, or is revised, to include land previously not affected by it, the Borough Council shall hold another public hearing, pursuant to public notice, before proceeding to vote on the amendment.

At least 30 days prior to the public hearing on the amendment by the Borough Council, the Borough shall submit the proposed amendment to the county planning agency for recommendations.

Within 30 days after enactment, a copy of the amendment to this chapter shall be forwarded to the county planning agency.

A landowner who desires to challenge on substantive grounds the validity of this chapter or the Zoning Map or any provision thereof, which prohibits or restricts the use or development of land in which he has an interest may submit a curative amendment to the Borough Council with a written request that his challenge and proposed amendment be heard and decided as provided in § 916.1 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (hereinafter "MPC"), 53 P.S. § 10916.1. The curative amendment and challenge shall be referred to the Planning Commission and the county planning agency as provided in § 609 and notice of the hearing thereon shall be given as provided in §§ 610 and 916.1 of the MPC, 53 P.S. §§ 10609, 10610, and 10916.1.

The hearing shall be conducted in accordance with § 908 of the MPC, 53 P.S. § 10908, and all references therein to the Zoning Hearing Board shall, for purposes of this section be references to the Borough Council. If the Borough does not accept a landowner's curative amendment brought in accordance with this subsection and a court subsequently rules that the challenge has merit, the court's decision shall not result in a declaration of invalidity for this entire Chapter and Zoning Map, but only for those provisions which specifically relate to the landowner's curative amendment and challenge.

The Borough Council, if it determines that a validity challenge has merit, may accept a landowner's curative amendment, with or without revision, or may adopt an alternative amendment which will cure the challenged defects. The Borough Council shall consider the curative amendments, plans and explanatory material submitted by the landowner and shall also consider:

If the Borough determines that this chapter, or any portion hereof, is substantially invalid, it shall take the following actions:

Within 180 days from the date of the declaration and proposal, the Borough shall enact a curative amendment to validate, or reaffirm the validity of, this chapter pursuant to the provisions of § 609 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (hereinafter "MPC"), 53 P.S. § 10609, in order to cure the declared invalidity of this chapter.

Upon the initiation of the procedures as set forth in Subsection (1), the Borough Council shall not be required to entertain or consider any landowner's curative amendment filed under § 609.1 of the MPC, 53 P.S. § 10609.1, nor shall the Zoning Hearing Board be required to give a report requested under §§ 909.1 or 916.1 of the MPC, 53 P.S. §§ 10909.1, 10916.1, subsequent to the declaration and proposal based upon the grounds identical or substantially similar to those specified by the resolution required by Subsection (1)(A). Upon completion of the procedures set forth in Subsections (1) and (2), no rights to a cure pursuant to the provisions of §§ 609.1 and 916.1 of the MPC, 53 P.S. §§ 10609.1, 10916.1, shall, from the date of the declaration and proposal, accrue to any landowner on the basis of the substantive invalidity of this chapter for which there has been a curative amendment pursuant to this section.

The Borough, having utilized the procedures set forth in this section, may not again utilize said procedure for a period of 36 months following the date of enactment of a curative amendment, or reaffirmation of the validity of this chapter; Provided, however, if after the date of declaration and proposal there is a substantially new duty imposed upon the Borough by virtue of a change in statute or by virtue of a Pennsylvania Appellate Court decision, the Borough may utilize the provisions of this section to propose a curative amendment to this chapter to fulfill said duty or obligation.