East Palo Alto Municipal Code Art. IX Liquified Petroleum Gas

A. The parking and garaging of tank vehicles used for the transportation of liquefied petroleum gases shall be in accordance with the following:

1. No person shall leave a tank vehicle unattended on any highway, street or alley except that this shall not prevent:

a. The necessary absence of the driver in connection with loading or unloading the vehicle;

b. Stops for meals during the day or night, if the street is well lighted at the point of parking;

c. When in case of accident or other emergency, the operator must leave to obtain assistance.

2. No person shall park a tank vehicle at any one point for longer than one hour except:

a. Off of a street, highway or alley;

b. Inside of a bulk plant and twenty-five (25) feet from the property line or within a building approved for such use;

c. At other approved locations not less than fifty (50) feet from any building except those approved for the storage or servicing of such vehicle; or

d. When, in case of breakdown or other emergency, the operator must leave the vehicle to take necessary action to correct the emergency.

3. Tank vehicles shall not be parked or garaged in any building other than those specifically approved for such use by the district fire marshal.

B. During the unloading or transfer of liquefied petroleum gas, the tank shall be located or parked clear of a public thoroughfare, unless:

1. The failure to transfer would create a hazard;

2. It is impossible due to topography.

C. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section during the unloading or transfer of liquefied petroleum gas, the tank truck shall be parked with the transfer point not less than fifty (50) feet from the property line where the container to which the tank vehicle is connected has a capacity of over two thousand (2,000) gallons.

D. During the loading or unloading operations of liquefied petroleum gas, the tank truck shall be parked parallel to the storage tank.

E. All tank truck vehicles, when parked in bulk plants, shall be parallel to storage tanks, and each other, and at a minimum distance of twenty-five (25) feet from any bulk storage tank and a minimum of ten feet between vehicles

(Prior code § 4-2.901)

A. No person shall fill or maintain a liquefied petroleum gas container with liquefied petroleum gas in excess of the fixed gauge installed by the manufacturer or the weight stamped on the tank.

B. Liquefied petroleum gas shall not be used for the purpose of operating any device or equipment unless such equipment or device is approved for use with liquified petroleum gas.

(Prior code § 4-2.902)

A. No person shall tamper with or make ineffective the safety devices of any liquefied petroleum gas container.

B. In any area subject to freezing weather all LP Gas regulator breathing openings shall be adequately treated to protect against stoppage by frozen moisture.

(Prior code § 4-2.903)

A. No person shall smoke within twenty-five (25) feet of any LP Gas container of one thousand two hundred (1,200) gallons capacity or less, nor within fifty (50) feet of any such container having a capacity of over one thousand two hundred (1,200) gallons.

B. No person shall install or maintain any open flame device outside of buildings within twenty-five (25) feet of any LP Gas container having a capacity of one thousand two hundred (1,200) gallons or less, nor within fifty (50) feet of any such container having a capacity of over one thousand two hundred (1200) gallons.

C. No person shall install or maintain any LP Gas container with a capacity of one thousand two hundred (1,200) gallons or less within twenty-five (25) feet of any open flame device, or any such container with a capacity in excess of one thousand two hundred (1,200) gallons within fifty (50) feet of any open flame device.

D. All weeds, brush, trash or other combustible material shall be cleared a minimum of ten feet away from all LP Gas containers or tanks.

(Prior code § 4-2.904)

A. Whenever the use of liquefied petroleum gas equipment has been discontinued, it shall be abandoned in an approved manner within a period of thirty (30) days.

B. The following alternative abandonment procedures are satisfactory:

1. Removal of all liquefied petroleum equipment;

2. Burn off contents of container;

3. Venting contents of container to atmosphere when discharge of gas can be held to a safe point of discharge;

4. All service openings shall be capped or plugged after the contents have been removed from the container.

(Prior code § 4-2.905)

Containers and first stage regulation equipment shall be located outside of buildings except for buildings especially provided for this purpose; provided, however, containers and regulating equipment may be used indoors under the following conditions:

A. If temporarily used for demonstration purposes and the container has a maximum water capacity of twelve (12) gallons;

B. If used with a completely self-contained gas hand torch or similar equipment, and the container has maximum water capacity of two and one-half gallons;

C. In use as a motor fuel;

D. In storage awaiting resale.

(Prior code § 4-2.906)

Fences installed around storage tanks of two thousand (2,000) gallons capacity or larger must be approved by the district fire marshal to insure adequate emergency vehicle access.

(Prior code § 4-2.907)