A. Upon the receipt of an application for a council permit, as provided in section 10-5-312 of this article, or an application for a variable directional drilling permit, as provided in section 10-5-314 of this article, the city clerk shall refer such application to the city manager. Upon the receipt of any such application, the city manager shall undertake such studies and investigations as he may consider appropriate to enable him to make a report to the council concerning such permit.
B. The city manager shall file a report with the council and the city clerk not later than forty five (45) days after the filing of the application.
C. The council, at the request of the city manager or on its own motion, may retain engineers or other persons to assist the city manager in his investigation of the application. In its action upon the application, if the council finds that the terms and conditions of this article have been complied with, and that persons and property within the city will not be adversely affected by the granting of the application, and that there is no reasonable probability of danger or damage to any real or personal property or injury to any person within the city by reason of the subsidence of the surface of the earth or other reason due to the extraction of oil or gas or oil and gas, and if, in a case where the proposed drill site is located within the city, the council shall find that there is no reasonable probability of danger or damage to any real or personal property or injury to any person by reason of the production and extraction of oil or gas or oil and gas or other hydrocarbon substances, the council shall grant the application and the council permit upon such terms and conditions as the council may set and fix in granting such permit in order to protect persons and property within the city from injury or damage or hazard of injury or damage, and, when the drill site is in the city, such further conditions as the council may impose in order to eliminate or minimize the adverse effect of such drill site on persons and property in the vicinity. In all other cases, the council shall deny the application. No permit shall be granted without the following standard conditions being required and made a part and condition of such permit:
1. Drilling operations for any well shall commence within ninety (90) days after the effective date of the permit and thereafter be prosecuted diligently to completion, and, if a producing well is not secured within one year after the effective date of the permit, the well shall be abandoned. The council, for good cause, may allow additional time for the commencement of the well.
2. The permittee shall comply with all ordinances, rules, and regulations of the city and of any other city through which the well, or any part thereof, is located or to be drilled, and the permittee shall comply with all ordinances of the county when the well, or any part thereof, is located or is to be drilled partly within the unincorporated territory of the county. The permittee shall comply with all the rules and regulations of the South Coast air quality management district.
3. A copy of the complete record of any such well furnished to the division of oil and gas of the state shall be concurrently filed by the permittee with the city clerk. The permittee, within thirty (30) days after any oil and gas or oil or gas well is placed on production, shall file with the city clerk a plat showing the location of the producing interval and the route of the well hole between the producing interval and the drill site. All records submitted pursuant to the provisions of this subsection shall be confidential and privileged to the extent permitted by law.
4. All well holes and oil and gas wells passing through or bottomed in or under any real property in the city, which wells are drilled from drilling sites outside the city, shall be below five hundred feet (500') upon entering any real property within the city.
6. The mayor, members of the council, city manager, public services administrator, building official, and their authorized assistants or deputies, and other officers, employees, agents, and independent contractors designated from time to time by the council, shall be permitted at all reasonable times to review and inspect the drill site and any operation or method used in the drilling for and producing of oil and gas.
7. The permittee shall hold the city, the council and its members, and its officers and employees harmless from any claim by third parties arising out of or resulting from the permittee's operation under any council permit. The permittee, at all times during the existence of any council permit, shall be insured for not less than one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) against liability in tort arising from the drilling or production activities or operations incident to the drilling and production of an oil and gas well pursuant to any council permit, and such policy shall name as additional insureds the city, its mayor, members of its council, members of its boards and commissions, and its officers, agents and employees, while acting as such, for liability arising out of the permittee's operation pursuant to such permit. Such policy of insurance shall be issued by a good and responsible insurance company and shall be subject to the approval of the city attorney. A certificate of such insurance shall be filed with the city clerk before drilling is commenced. Drilling and production shall be suspended at any time when the required insurance is not in full force and effect.
8. The council permit shall become null and void unless the permit is accepted by the applicant in its entirety in writing and filed with the city clerk within thirty (30) days after the effective date thereof, together with the payment of the permit fee required by section 10-5-319 of this chapter, and no work on such drill site shall be commenced until such permit is accepted and issued.
9. The operation of any oil and gas well and production therefrom drilled pursuant to a council permit shall be in accordance with the rules and regulations of the division of oil and gas of the state, or any successor agency or body thereto.
10. Any oil and gas or oil or gas well drilled pursuant to any council permit shall be drilled only within the properties which the permittee set forth in its application as the properties through which such well was proposed to pass, unless the permittee secures the approval of the council to cause such well to pass through other properties.
11. Any and all above surface equipment and extraction activities associated with any oil and gas or oil or gas well drilled pursuant to any council permit shall be located at least five hundred feet (500') from any school or park site located in the city of Beverly Hills.
D. No permittee shall drill, operate, or maintain any oil and gas well except in conformity with the terms and conditions of the permit pursuant to which such well is being drilled. After a council permit has been granted, the council may alter, amend, or add to the conditions of such permit in order to protect the citizens and property rights within the city. Such new, amended, or added conditions shall be made only after ten (10) days' notice to the applicant or permittee and after a hearing before the council.
E. Any council permit may be suspended or revoked by the council for any material violation of the conditions of the permit by the permittee or for the persistent violation of any law by the permittee in the operation of any such well. The council shall not revoke any council permit without first giving the permittee ten (10) days' written notice of the nature of the violations and the council's intention to revoke such permit. If, within such ten (10) day period, the permittee requests a hearing before the council, the council shall grant such hearing within fifteen (15) days after the date of such request. At such hearing evidence shall be presented to establish to the satisfaction of the council the extent and nature of the violation which constitutes grounds for the revocation, and the permittee shall be given an opportunity to cross examine all witnesses testifying at such hearing. The permittee shall thereafter be permitted at that hearing, or at a continued hearing (if a continuance is requested by the permittee), to present evidence to disprove or explain such alleged violations. The council thereupon, after hearing all the evidence, shall determine whether or not the permit should be revoked, and the council determination thereon shall be final. If the council determines that the permit should be revoked, the council shall order the revocation, and the permittee shall thereafter abandon the well in strict conformity with the requirements of law. (Ord. 79-O-1720, eff. 2-15-1979; amd. Ord. 11-O-2614, eff. 11-18-2011; Ord. 13-O-2637, eff. 2-24-2013)