Chapter 21.36 — OIL DRILLING OVERLAY ZONING DISTRICT

The oil drilling (-O) overlay zoning district is established to protect the health, safety, public welfare, and physical environment of the city by the reasonable regulation of oil and gas production facilities and operations. Provisions herein are intended to supplement the regulations of the State Division of Oil and Gas. (Ord. 612 Exhibit A (part), 2008).

This overlay district is permitted in combination with all underlying zoning districts with the exception of residential zoning districts or any zoning district which allows residential use (for example, planned unit development). This overlay district may only be applied to properties containing a minimum of forty acres, but not more than one hundred sixty acres in gross area.

(Ord. 612 Exhibit A (part), 2008).

A zoning code amendment is required to rezone a property with the oil drilling (-O) overlay designation, and a conditional use permit is required for development and operation of an oil drilling facility. (Ord. 612 Exhibit A (part), 2008).

In addition to the standard permit processes listed in Article VIII, the following special requirements shall apply to all applications for oil drilling facilities and operations.

(1) Application submittal requirements. The application shall contain a statement that the applicant has proprietary or contractual authority to drill for and produce oil, gas and other hydrocarbon substances under the surface of at least seventy-five percent of the property to be included in the overlay district. If authority is contractual, the contract shall be provided with the application. The application shall also include a report from a state-licensed geologist confirming that the production of oil from beneath the proposed district would not, in his or her opinion, result in any noticeable subsidence.

(2) Public notice. Standard public hearing notice requirement for property owners within three hundred feet of the subject parcel shall be extended to five hundred feet.

(3) Staff review. The staff report to the designated approving authorities (planning commission and ultimately city council) shall include discussion of whether or not exploration for oil, gas, and other hydrocarbon substances is geologically justified in the district.

(4) Findings and conditions. Any action of the city council to approve an application for oil drilling and production shall include the standard findings for all requested entitlements and compliance with all applicable provisions herein. In addition to the development standards set forth in Section 21.36.050, the city council may impose additional conditions to protect the public health, safety, welfare, and physical environment of La Mirada.

(5) Term of conditional use permit. As identified in Chapter 21.106, the conditional use permit is a limited term permit and must be exercised within a specified period or become null and void. The conditional use permit term limit

for oil drilling facilities and operation shall be ten years. Additionally, the permit shall become null and void if the approval is not exercised within one year from the effective date of the permit. Oil drilling facilities abandoned for a period of one year shall become null and void.

(Ord. 612 Exhibit A (part), 2008).

The following minimum development and operational standards shall apply to all oil drilling and production facilities. Applicable standards shall be incorporated into project conditions of approval.

(1) Not more than one controlled drill site shall be permitted for each forty acres of land.

(2) Unless the city council determines that closer spaces are necessary for efficient oil field development, the minimum separation distance between controlled drill sites shall be one thousand three hundred twenty feet.

(3) Within one year from the effective date of district and permit approval, the lessee or developer shall execute an offer in writing giving to each record owner or property located in the oil drilling district who has not executed the lessee's or developer's lease or other authorization to drill the right to share in the proceeds of production from wells bottomed in the district, upon the same basis as those property owners who have by lease or other legal consent granted to the lessee or developer the right to drill for and product oil, gas or other hydrocarbon substances from the subsurface of the district. The offer shall remain open for acceptance for a period of five years from the effective date. During the period the offer is in effect, the owner/developer shall impound all royalties to which the owners or any of them may become entitled and pay to the record owners of property in the district who had not signed the lease at the time of such effective date, but who accept such offer in writing within the five-year period. Any such royalties impounded at the time the offer expires, which are not due or payable as hereinabove provided, shall be paid pro rata to those owners who, at the time of such expiration, are otherwise entitled to share in the proceeds of such production. (4) In the case of properties under lease to a lessee who has not been permitted to drill and produce within an established oil drilling overlay district, the city council shall require that the lessee or developer who is authorized to drill and produce hydrocarbons from the district shall offer a consolidation agreement to the lessee who has not been permitted to drill and produce. Such consolidation agreement shall contain an offer in writing, open for acceptance for one hundred eighty days, giving such other lessee the choice of: assigning his or her leases to the district operator subject to terms and conditions agreed upon, or a consolidation agreement providing that each such lessee shall contribute to the cost of drilling, producing, or otherwise developing hydrocarbons within the district and shall share in the proceeds of production from the district either in the proportion that the area of his or her leasehold bears to the total area of the district, or in accordance with some other formula agreed upon.

upon, or a consolidation agreement providing that each such lessee shall contribute to the cost of drilling, producing, or otherwise developing hydrocarbons within the district and shall share in the proceeds of production from the district either in the proportion that the area of his or her leasehold bears to the total area of the district, or in accordance with some other formula agreed upon.

(5) If circumstances do not permit the construction of controlled drill sites in adjoining or closely spaced districts in compliance with the requirements of this chapter, or if good zoning practice would be best served by consolidating competitive drilling and producing operations, the city council shall require competing lessees or developers of such district to enter into joint operations for the conduct of a unit plan of development of hydrocarbon reserves.

(6) Prior to commencement of operations, each lessee or developer shall post a group surety bond for one hundred thousand dollars in favor of the city to ensure compliance with conditions, provisions, restrictions, and requirements of this chapter to the satisfaction of the city attorney. The surety shall remain in effect for the life of the permit. This requirement may not be modified, waived, or extended.

(7) The designated approving authority determines that oil drilling and production activities have caused or may cause subsidence in the elevation of the ground within the district or within the immediate vicinity (based on expert data), the approving authority shall require the lessee or developer to take corrective action, including re-pressurizing the oil producing structure or cessation of oil drilling and production.

(8) The drilling of the wells shall be conducted in accordance with good oil field practice. Blow-out prevention equipment shall be installed and maintained in connection with the drilling of any well. Down-hole shut-off valves shall be installed on completed wells to guard against the danger of blow-outs.

(9) Producing wells that are required to be pumped shall be equipped with subsurface hydraulic units. All surface pumps and compressors shall be located within acoustically designed enclosures, adequately soundproofed. Wells shall be serviced with portable type equipment only.

(10) All oil and gas produced from the wells on the property shall be transported from the drill site by means of underground pipeline connected directly with the producing pump or with tanks or treating facilities by a completely closed system without venting products to the atmosphere at the production site, and in no event shall there be any storage or treatment facilities on the property other than necessary to conform production to pipeline requirements. LACT (lease automatic custody transfer) procedures shall be adopted wherever practical, but in no event shall more than three-day storage or two one thousand-barrel tanks (whichever is greater) be erected or maintained on the property. Furthermore, the production tanks and production equipment shall be so placed and located with respect to enclosing fixtures surrounding the site as to not be visible to persons on adjacent public streets or from adjacent residential property having approximately the same ground level elevation as the average ground level surrounding the drill site.

(11) No refining process or any process for the extraction of products from natural gas shall be carried on at the drill site, except for such minor process as necessary to make natural gas acceptable for delivery in the city gas mains. (12) All tools, pipe, and other equipment in connection with the drilling and production activities shall be stored and kept on the drill site within a walled and landscaped enclosure.

(13) Drilling procedures shall be conducted efficiently for the purpose of removing and discontinuing derrick and drilling operations in the shortest possible time period.

(14) All drilling work shall be insured with limits as required by the public works director, and in no event less than two million dollars, against liability in tort and public liability and property damage, and against pollution liability damage in such amount as may be required by the public works director with respect to drilling or production, or activities or operations incident thereto. Each such policy shall be conditioned or endorsed to cover such agents, lessees, or representatives of the owner, lessee or permittee as may actually conduct drilling, production, or incidental operations permitted. The insurance policy shall be reviewed and kept with the city attorney. A certificate of insurance carrier and its address and a sworn statement that such insurance will be maintained in full force and effect, and shall be submitted to the city attorney prior to issuance of required permits.

ner, lessee or permittee as may actually conduct drilling, production, or incidental operations permitted. The insurance policy shall be reviewed and kept with the city attorney. A certificate of insurance carrier and its address and a sworn statement that such insurance will be maintained in full force and effect, and shall be submitted to the city attorney prior to issuance of required permits.

(15) The drill site and approaches thereto shall at all times be kept in a clean, free from weeds and debris, other than necessary and incidental drilling equipment and supplies, and shall be effectively landscaped and maintained as required and conditioned. Special attention shall be paid to the accumulation of oil/oil products/equipment which might cause fumes or odors detrimental to the adjoining property. Furthermore, upon completion of the drilling operations, all equipment and supplies, except those actually necessary in production work and as specified on plans for the installation of the various production facilities and devices, shall be removed from the property, so that, as far as practicable, there be no evidence above the ground of the presence of the oil producing facilities in the pits and cellars heretofore specified.

(16) All pumping units established in the district shall be installed in pits so that no part thereof will be above the surface of the ground.

(17) Adequate fire fighting apparatus and supplies, approved by the fire department shall be maintained on the drilling site at all times during drilling and production operations.

(18) All production equipment shall be constructed and operated so that no noise, vibration, dust, odor or other harmful or annoying substances shall ever be permitted to result from production operations carried on at any drill site.

Structures on the site shall not be permitted to become dilapidated, unsightly or unsafe. If capable of reducing factors of nuisance or annoyance, proven technological improvements in methods of production shall be adopted as they become available.

(19) All permanent equipment shall be painted and kept in neat condition. All production operations shall be as free from noise as possible with modern oil operations.

(20) In compliance with safety and clearance requirements, all equipment used in connection with the flowing or pumping of wells shall be properly screened.

(21) When drilling is completed on a well, the site shall be free of debris, landscaped with planting of shrubbery so as to screen from public view, and permanent equipment kept in good condition.

(22) An internal combustion engine or electrical equipment may be used in the drilling or pumping operations of the well, and if an internal combustion engine is used, mufflers shall be installed on the engine to reduce noise. Muffler installation shall be to the satisfaction of the fire department.

(23) All waste substances used or produced in connection with oil drilling production or operations shall be retained in watertight receptors from which they may be piped or hauled for terminal disposal in a dumping area specifically approved for such disposal by the Los Angeles Regional Water Pollution Control Board.

(24) Drilling, pumping and other power operations shall use electrical power generated off-site.

(25) Drilling operations shall be conducted in connection with only one well at a time in any one district, and such well shall be completed before operations for the drilling of another well are commenced; provided, however, that the city may permit the drilling of more than one well at a time after the discovery well has been completed.

(26) All oil drilling and production operations shall be conducted in such a manner as to eliminate, as far as practicable, dust, noise, vibration or noxious odors, and shall be in accordance with the best accepted practices incident to drilling for and production of oil, gas and other hydrocarbon substances.

(27) All parts of the derrick above the derrick floor not reasonably necessary for ingress and egress, including the elevated portion thereof used as a hoist, shall be enclosed with fire resistive soundproofing material approved by the county fire department, and the same shall be painted or stained so as to render such material as unobtrusive as practicable.

(28) All tools, pipe and other equipment used in connection with any drilling or production operations shall be screened from view, and all drilling operations shall be conducted or carried on behind a solid fence, which shall be maintained in good condition at all times, and be painted or stained so as to render such fence as unobtrusive as practicable.

(29) Materials, equipment, tools or pipe used for drilling or production operations shall be delivered to or removed from the controlled drilling site between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. daily. Special approval from the city planner is required for delivery and removal outside of specified hours. With the exception of drilling and production operations, no work shall be conducted on the property between the hours of 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., Sundays, or state holidays.

(30) No earthen sumps shall be used.

(31) No oil, gas or other hydrocarbon substances may be produced from any well hereby permitted unless all equipment necessarily incident to such production is completely enclosed. Enclosures shall be approved by the building and fire departments, shall be permanent in nature, and shall be designed to be compatible with surrounding development. The architectural treatment of the enclosure's exterior shall also be subject to planning commission approval.

(32) No oil, gas or other hydrocarbon substances may be produced from any well located within a one-half mile radius of any residential property or use, unless all equipment necessarily incidental to such production is installed

below the natural surface of the ground and such installation and equipment shall be made in accordance with fire department requirements.

(33) Any production tanks shall be installed below the natural surface of the ground and the installation thereof shall be made in accordance with safety requirements of the fire department.

(34) Except as otherwise required by law or ordinance, no sign shall be constructed, erected, maintained or placed on the premises in connection with the drilling or production operations.

(35) Suitable and adequate sanitary toilet and washing facilities shall be installed and maintained in a good condition at all times.

(Ord. 612 Exhibit A (part), 2008).