§ 4451. Enforcement; penalties

(a) Any person who violates any bylaw after it has been adopted under this chapter or who violates a comparable ordinance or regulation adopted under prior enabling laws shall be fined not more than $200.00 for each offense. No action may be brought under this section unless the alleged offender has had at least seven days' warning notice by certified mail. An action may be brought without the seven-day notice and opportunity to cure if the alleged offender repeats the violation of the bylaw or ordinance after the seven-day notice period and within the next succeeding 12 months.

(1) The seven-day warning notice shall state that a violation exists, that the alleged offender has an opportunity to cure the violation within the seven days, and that the alleged offender will not be entitled to an additional warning notice for a violation occurring after the seven days.

(2) A notice of violation issued under this chapter also shall state:

(A) the bylaw or municipal land use permit condition alleged to have been violated;

(B) the facts giving rise to the alleged violation;

(C) to whom appeal may be taken and the period of time for taking an appeal; and

(D) that failure to file an appeal within that period will render the notice of violation the final decision on the violation addressed in the notice.

(3) In default of payment of the fine, the person, the members of any partnership, or the principal officers of the corporation shall each pay double the amount of the fine. Each day that a violation is continued shall constitute a separate offense. All fines collected for the violation of bylaws shall be paid over to the municipality whose bylaw has been violated.

(b) Any person who, being the owner or agent of the owner of any lot, tract, or parcel of land, lays out, constructs, opens, or dedicates any street, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water main, or other improvements for public use, travel, or other purposes or for the common use of occupants of buildings abutting thereon, or sells, transfers, or agrees or enters into an agreement to sell any land in a subdivision or land development whether by reference to or by other use of a plat of that subdivision or land development or otherwise, or erects any structure on that land, unless a final plat has been prepared in full compliance with this chapter and the bylaws adopted under this chapter and has been recorded as provided in this chapter, shall be fined not more than $200.00, and each lot or parcel so transferred or sold or agreed or included in a contract to be sold shall be deemed a separate violation. All fines collected for these violations shall be paid over to the municipality whose bylaw has been violated. The description by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer or other document used in the process of selling or transferring shall not exempt the seller or transferor from these penalties or from the remedies provided in this chapter. (Added 2003, No. 115 (Adj. Sess.), § 101; amended 2011, No. 155 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 2013, No. 146 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. May 27, 2014.)