§ 17-26. Purpose; required.

(a)

This article is hereby adopted for the purpose of prescribing regulations governing conditions for the drilling of oil and gas wells.

(b)

A special use permit is established to set standards used in approving oil and gas well operations and to establish procedures for processing the special use permits. Certain uses are defined as special uses because of the potential harmful effects the use can cause to nearby property and public streets, and because the requirements needed to eliminate those harmful effects vary from site to site. Thus, the city administrator, or his designated agent, in considering each special use request, will review the overall compatibility of the planned use with surrounding property as well as such specific items as streets standards, traffic patterns, compliance with the adopted fire prevention code of the city, amount of dust or spillage created by the operation, traffic control, etc., to make sure no harmful effects occur to nearby property or existing public property. However, nothing herein shall be interpreted and/or applied so as to effectively prevent or eliminate oil and/or gas drilling within the city.

(Code 1976, § 19.5-1)