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A well site shall not be less than 500 feet from any boundary of the subject tract. If the drilling unit borders on any boundary of the City, the wellhead shall be at least 300 feet from said boundary. No wellhead shall be closer than fifty (50) feet to the right of way of any road, highway, street or alley nor to any railroad right of way.
(Ord. 3273. Passed 5-9-24.)
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 1169.14, 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. 3273. Passed 5-9-24.)
(a) An application for a drilling unit authorization shall be accompanied by the consents in writing of owners of fifty-one percent (51%) or more of the real estate units located within a radius of 1,000 feet from the proposed wellhead. The consents shall plainly state that the persons whose signatures are affixed thereto give their consent to the drilling of a well for oil or gas on the site as proposed in the application for a drilling permit. Measurement for determination of the distance of the aforesaid 1,000 feet shall be made from the exact center of the hole that is to be drilled for the well. As used in this section, the term "real estate unit" shall mean a land area with common ownership, regardless of the number of parcels into which it is or may be divided. No permit shall be issued until fifty-one percent (51%) of the owners of the real estate units within 1,000 feet of the wellhead approve the drilling of the oil or gas well.
(b) In the event the owner of any property abutting a proposed well site:
(1) Has leased his or her property for drilling for oil or gas;
(2) Has signed and filed an application for a permit to drill for oil or gas on his or her property, or his or her lessee, contractor or agent has signed and filed the application;
(3) Has signed and delivered a written assent under subsection (a) of this section or Section 1169.14 to an application for a permit to drill a well for oil or gas; or
(4) Has utilized his or her property by entering a community lease or agreement for drilling a well for oil or gas, if the well to which he or she has assented or which is to be drilled under the community lease or agreement is to be located nearer to his or her property than the well or proposed well site set forth in subsection (a) of this section;
Then the owner shall not be permitted to object, but shall be deemed to have given his or her written assent, under the provisions of this section, to drilling a well for oil and/or gas on the proposed well site set forth in subsection (a) of this section. However, any owner who has united his or her property by entering into a community lease or agreement as set forth in subsection (b)(4) of this section shall not share in any adjacent well production because of conflicting lease interests of the real estate caused by the real estate being in more than one unitized area. It is the express intention of this provision to prohibit an owner of property from unitizing identical property under more than one community lease or agreement.
(Ord. 3273. Passed 5-9-24.)
(a) In addition to the consents required in Section 1169.13, no drilling shall be permitted for oil and/or gas wells in any zone within 400 feet of any building or structure of any nature unless written waivers, as hereinafter provided for, accompany an application for a drilling permit.
(b) The owners and occupants of any buildings or structures which are located within 400 feet of the proposed well site must waive, in writing, the distance requirement set forth. The owners and occupants may agree to a minimum distance of 300 feet without the necessity of vacating, or causing to be vacated, any buildings or structures during drilling operations.
(c) The owners and occupants of any buildings or structures which are closer than 400 feet to a proposed drilling site may, at any time, waive in writing the distance requirement provided in this section for any proposed drilling site which is or proposed to be closer than 400 feet to the buildings or structures. The property owners shall be deemed to have waived the minimum distance requirement provided for in subsection (a) of this section and agreed that the distance be reduced to the same distance that the party waived for the other proposed drilling site, or to the distance that a well actually was drilled, whichever is smaller.
(d) The Council may refuse to reduce the distance from any building or structure even though the owners and occupants within 400 feet of the well site have waived the distances set forth in this chapter. The Council shall evaluate each case from the perspective of safety, the impact on the immediate area and the relationship to long term plans for the area.
(Ord. 3273. Passed 5-9-24.)
(a) Wells. No building permit shall be issued for the construction of any building designed for human occupancy or use, i.e. residential, industrial, commercial or public, if the proposed building site is within 300 feet of any oil or gas well, until such time as the well has been plugged and sealed in conformity with this chapter.
(b) Storage Tanks. No building permit shall be issued for the construction of any building designed for human occupancy or use, i.e. residential, industrial, commercial or public, if the proposed building site is within 300 feet of any oil or gas well storage tank.
(Ord. 3273. Passed 5-9-24.)
An applicant who has received drilling unit authorization and has drilled a producing well shall submit to the Planning and Zoning Inspector copies of easements or options for easements for a pipeline describing where the pipeline will be crossing other property, and shall also provide copies of any agreements, easements or options for the location of storage tanks.
(Ord. 3273. Passed 5-9-24.)
A drilling permit will not be issued by the Community Development Administrator until the Council approves a drilling unit authorization and the applicant provides a current permit issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas.
(Ord. 3273. Passed 5-9-24.)
(a) Upon the approval of Council of a drilling unit authorization permit, the Community Development Administrator shall issue the permit upon receipt of a certificate of insurance covering the applicant's liability in the minimum amounts of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) property damage and one million dollars ($1,000,000) personal injury, per occurrence, or such other amount set by the Council. Insurance coverage must be maintained while drilling is in progress, the well is in operation or is producing oil or gas, and until the well is pulled, sealed and plugged as hereinafter provided. The insurance companies, policies and the coverages hereunder are subject to approval by the Law Director. The rejection of an insurance policy by the City shall serve to stay the granting of a permit until a satisfactory insurance policy providing coverage has been submitted by the applicant and approved by the Law Director.
(b) All insurance policies shall include coverage for all items specified in this chapter, including coverage resulting from blowout and cratering.
(c) The applicant and permit holder shall hold the City of Chardon harmless from all liability resulting from the granting of a permit pursuant to this chapter.
(Ord. 3273. Passed 5-9-24.)
After the application has been filed, duly authorized representatives of the City, including the Municipal Engineer, Community Development Administrator, Zoning Inspector, the Police Chief and the Fire Inspector/Chief of the Chardon Volunteer Fire Department, shall have the authority, at any time, to enter upon property where a drilling site is contemplated, upon property where a well is planned or in the process of being drilled, or upon a producing well site, to inspect the site, equipment and all other things necessary to ensure compliance with this chapter.
(Ord. 3273. Passed 5-9-24.)
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