(a) Except as otherwise provided herein, no well shall be drilled and no permit shall be issued for any well to be drilled at any location which is within 300 feet of any residence or commercial building, which is permanently affixed to the realty, without the applicant having first secured the written permission of the owner or owners of said building. For the purposes of this article, permission shall not be required from the owners of mobile homes unless the owner of said mobile home also owns the real property on which the mobile home is located. Signatures for waivers will be needed from landowners only; signatures are not required from tenants in said buildings.
(b) In measuring said 300 feet distance, all measurements will be made from the proposed wellhead location to the closest load-bearing and supporting wall structure of each building. All measurements are to be made to those portions of said buildings which are intended to be habitable or occupied on a full-time basis; storage sheds, gazebos, covered patios and similar structures that are not enclosed are not to be considered in making such measurements. All measurements will be made to the actual wall surface and not to any overhanging roof eave or similar structure.
(c) If any property owner denies access to their property for purposes of determining the distance measurement from the wellhead to the walls of the property owner's structure, then distances will be determined using methodologies such as transit and angle measurements or other similar methodology acceptable to the oil and gas inspector, which such distances shall be accepted for all purposes under this ordinance as incontestable.
(d) Any waiver form used to obtain written permission of the property owner of any building as required herein shall contain, as a minimum, the following information:
(1) the name and address of the property owner;
(2) a clear and unequivocal statement that the property owner agrees to the permitting of the well as reflected by the duly acknowledged signature of the property owner appearing on said form;
(3) a clear and unequivocal statement that the property owner may refuse to agree to the permitting of the well;
(4) a statement of notice to the property owner that by affixing his or her signature to the document, the property owner agrees to permit the driller to place the signed document in the chain of title of the property owner and that such document will in fact be placed in the chain of title of the property;
(5) a statement of notice to the property owner that a permit to drill the well will not be granted until such time as the applicant complies with all the terms and provisions of Chapter 61 of the city's Code.
(e) Any waiver form used to obtain written permission of the owner of any building as required herein shall be subject to the following conditions to be effective under this section:
(1) the term of the waiver must be stated in the document itself, not to exceed a maximum term of two years;
(2) to satisfy the requirements for issuance of any permit hereunder, the minimum term of said waiver must be effective for at least the minimum term of the permit itself as set out in this section, and the permit itself shall be void at such time as the waiver shall expire;
(3) all waivers must be filed of record in the county courthouse to be effective;
(4) each applicant for a permit under this chapter requiring the use of waivers as described herein shall specify on the permit application the earliest date of expiration of approved waivers obtained by the applicant.
(f) The applicant for a permit under this chapter shall approach all of the owners of the residential and commercial buildings located within 300 feet of any proposed well and make a good faith bona fide attempt to acquire their approval on the requisite form as specified herein. In so doing, the applicant shall provide true and accurate information to the property owner. If the applicant is successful in obtaining 100 percent of the necessary waivers, the applicant will be qualified to seek a Level A or B Permit as otherwise specified herein. If, however, all of the owners of the residences and commercial buildings located within 300 feet of any proposed well have not given their written permission, then the applicant will be required to obtain a Level C Permit as specified herein.
(Ord. No. 2272, § 1, 1-26-93)