(A) The City Council finds that the underground mining of coal underlying the city has caused subsidence of the land and has resulted in damage to the property of its citizens, and in general, creates hazardous conditions dangerous to life and property so as to constitute an imminent and inordinate peril to the welfare of its citizens. and property and the people and property within the city and Commonwealth of Kentucky.
(B) The City Council further finds that subsidence of the surface of the earth has occurred on numerous occasions in areas where coal has been mined by the underground method of mining within the city, including but not limited to known and recent subsidence in the Parkwood, Brentwood, and Crestview subdivisions to the city and that these incidents of subsidence have caused damage to the property and imperiled the well-being of the citizens of the city.
(C) The Council further finds that in order to minimize the risk to future generations of its citizens from exposure to known and existing hazards caused by underground mining that it is in the interest of the general welfare that further mining in and underlying the city be restricted as provided in this chapter.
(D) The Council further advises that the strip mining of coal has caused and will cause soil erosion, damage from overburden, landslides, stream pollution, accumulation of stagnant water and seepage of contaminated water, danger from detonation of explosives used in the mining process, destroys the value of land for aesthetic reasons, and in general impairs the property rights of its citizens and creates hazards dangerous to life and property so as to constitute an imminent and inordinate peril to the persons and property lying and being within the city.
(‘74 Code, § 16-2) (Ord. passed 12-28-70; Am. Ord. O-2021-8, passed 9-20-21)