Williston City Zoning Code
SECTION 25
M Oil and natural gas drilling.
[Amended 8-23-2022 by Ord. No. 1136]
Oil and natural gas drilling shall be permitted in a M-2: Heavy Industrial or A: Agricultural District, providing the following requirements are met:
1.
The regulations and statutes provided for in Chapter 38-08, North Dakota Century Code, shall be followed by any person desiring to drill a well for oil and natural gas within the City of Williston or the one-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction.
2.
An application must be filed with the City Planner. The application shall consist of two drill site development plans.
a.
The first plan shall be a drill site development plan covering and including that phase of the oil well operation including drilling operations, and shall include the following information:
(i)
Written legal description.
(ii)
Scale drawing of the property and appropriate dimensions.
(iii)
Scale, north arrow, date, and legend.
(iv)
Name, address, and telephone number of property owner and applicant.
(v)
Location and size of existing easements, utilities, and right-of-ways.
(vi)
Location and dimension of all vehicular entrances, exits, and drives.
(vii)
General drainage system.
(viii)
Size of site.
(ix)
Location of all physical facilities to include proposed wells, structures, portable toilets, and relationship to all buildings within a 660-foot radius.
(x)
The site plan shall contain a statement describing all pollution prevention equipment to be utilized; it shall be the policy of the City of Williston to require blowout prevention devices on every drilling operation covered hereunder.
(xi)
Location of all mud pits.
(xii)
Pad construction plans.
b.
The second plan shall cover the completed or production well phase and shall contain the following information:
(i)
General location of tank batteries and size of tank battery site.
(ii)
Any oil, gas, or water lines to be utilized.
(iii)
Location of ingress and egress to be utilized by applicant and to include all vehicular entrances, exits and drives.
(iv)
Type of screening devices, or construction to be utilized around the pumping site, which screening shall be required to be of such type so as to discourage access, entry, or climbing so as to endanger life and security; all screening shall be required to meet the minimum screening standards as specified in Section 23.N and Section 25.A; the security at gates to any oil operation at all times during which the oil operation site is unattended.
(v)
The sign shall be no more than 24 inches by 30 inches; shall contain the name, address, and emergency phone number of the oil producing company; and shall be posted at the drilling site for use in any emergency notice which might arise.
3.
An oil well or natural gas operation shall maintain roads within the premises covered by the permit and such roads shall be kept in reasonable dust-free condition.
4.
No well or drilling operation shall be located, drilled, or operated within 300 feet of any Residential, Commercial, or Parks and Open Space District. In any other Districts, no well or drilling operation shall be located, drilled or operated within 200 feet of any existing structure. Traffic to and from a well or drilling operation shall not be disruptive to any residential development.
5.
Any drilling rig within 300 feet of a residence, business, or public building shall be enclosed on all sides. All storage tanks, wells, and equipment operated or maintained in connection with such a well shall be enclosed with a fence. All rigs shall be equipped with adequate fire extinguishing equipment.
6.
A special use permit for the drilling of all oil and gas wells shall be required, and shall follow the process and regulations laid out in Section 27 of this ordinance.