No drilling shall be permitted for oil or gas wells within 400 feet of a building designed for human occupancy, including residential structures and industrial or commercial buildings, or any school, church, hospital, theater or assembly hall, as the same are defined by the Ohio Revised Code, regardless of the zoning district. In the case of a particular installation in which the applicant proves that compliance with the foregoing distance requirements is a hardship to the use of the property and where no undue hazard will be created, the Council may, with waivers as required in Section 1161.14, reduce the distance to not less than 300 feet. Any reduction in distance must be based upon consideration of reliable evidence of special features, including but not limited to such features as topographical conditions, the nature of the occupancy, the proximity of storage tanks, the degree of fire protection provided and the facilities available to the Chardon Volunteer Fire Department to extinguish or contain liquid fires. The Council shall have the right to consider any and all other special features it may deem important in determining whether or not an undue hazard is created.
(Ord. 2635. Passed 1-13-11.)