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Any person desiring to engage in the drilling of a well for oil or gas, or to carry on the operation of an oil or gas well within the City, shall make application to the Director of Public Service, upon such forms as he may prescribe, for a permit to do so. Such application shall be accompanied by a fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00). There shall be filed a separate application and fee for each well contemplated.
It shall be the duty of any person owning or leasing property, for the purpose of drilling for oil or gas thereon, to provide a map or blueprint at the time of making application, showing the exact location where the proposed well is to be drilled. In the event that a permit is granted, the map or blueprint shall remain on file in the office of the Director of Public Service for future reference.
The Director of Public Service shall cause an investigation to be made of the premises for which such permit is sought. When such an investigation is completed, the application with the report of the investigation shall be submitted to the Planning Commission. If found to comply in all respects with the terms of this chapter, the Planning Commission may recommend the granting of the permit; otherwise, it shall recommend rejection of such application.
The Director of Public Service shall issue the permit applied for upon receipt of the application duly approved by the Planning Commission and upon the furnishing of a bond by the applicant in the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100, 000), in form and with surety approved by the Mayor, conditioned upon the faithful observance of all provisions of law and ordinance relating to drilling an oil or gas well, and further conditioned that the permittee and his assigns shall:
(a) Restore the streets and sidewalks and all other public places of the City, which may be disturbed in the operation, to their former condition;
(b) Clear the area of all litter, machinery, derricks, buildings, oil or substances used in the drilling or production operation;
(c) Pay any and all damages suffered by any person or corporation from fire, oil, gas or water damage to property in the City, over and above the insurance collected thereon, caused by or originating from the operations connected with such well; and
(d) Hold the City free and harmless from any and all liability growing out of the granting of such permit.
The bond as provided for in Section 713.05 shall be in force and effect during the entire drilling operation and until such time as the well is capped and for thirty days thereafter, at which time the applicant may discontinue the bond if he has complied with all the conditions thereof. In the event that the applicant chooses to discontinue his bond, he must deposit with the Director of Public Service, in lieu of the one hundred thousand dollar ($100, 000) bond, his insurance policies or certificates of insurance covering liability for property damage and for personal injury. Such insurance must be maintained for such period of time as the well is in operation or is producing oil or gas, and shall be for not less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100, 000).
No permit shall be issued for the drilling of a well except upon the ground owned by the applicant, or held by the applicant under an oil and gas lease or drilling contract from the owner, giving permission to drill the well. Nothing herein contained, or any permit issued hereunder, shall be deemed to grant any right or license to the permittee to enter upon or occupy, in any respect, for drilling or production operations, any land except by written permission of the owner. When a permit shall have been issued, the same shall terminate and become inoperative, without any action on the part of the City, unless within sixty days from date of issue actual drilling of the well shall have commenced. The cessation of the drilling operation for a like period shall operate to terminate and cancel the permit and the well shall be deemed abandoned for purposes of this chapter. It shall be unlawful to thereafter drill or operate any such well within the City without the issuance of another permit.
No person shall erect or use any drilling rig within 150 feet of an inhabitable dwelling in the City, without first obtaining in writing the consent of all the owners or dwellings within that radius, as measured from the center of the proposed well. Every drilling rig shall be equipped with a fire extinguisher maintained in good condition. It shall be further unlawful to drill any gas or oil well, or to extend or deepen one already drilled, within 150 feet of any railroad right of way, street or highway, as measured from the center of the proposed well to the nearest point of the right of way or dedicated portion of the street or highway.
The Director of Public Service shall make such inspections to insure compliance with these provisions as are necessary.
The Planning Commission shall have the right to recommend rejection of any application for a permit by reason of the location of the proposed well and the character and value of the permanet improvements already erected, and the use to which the land and surroundings are adapted for civic purposes, or if for sanitary reasons the drilling of an oil or gas well will constitute a serious disadvantage to the City and its inhabitants. When a permit is refused, the deposit of cash required to be made with the application shall be returned to the applicant. Appeal from the denial of a permit shall be to the Board of Zoning and Building Appeals as provided in Section 1105.03.
It shall be the duty of any person, in the drilling of a well or the cleaning of an abandoned well preparatory to the plugging of such abandoned well, to provide for a drilling-in control gate which shall be so constructed as to effectually cut off the flow of gas to the top of the well, and which can be operated at a remote point from the well.
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