9.6.11.1. The County shall enter into and adopt development agreements concerning the development of an Oil or Gas Facility or Facilities or Projects with the owners and lessees of subsurface mineral estates and/or oil and gas lessees and such Development Agreement may be entered into with other governmental units with jurisdiction, pursuant to this Section.
9.6.11.2. The purpose of this Section is to:
(a) provide a mechanism for the County and owners of mineral estates and oil and gas and lessees to form agreements, binding on all parties, regarding vesting, development, financing and land use of the oil and gas project;
(b) promote land development regulation by allowing the County to adopt development agreements that include terms, conditions, and other provisions that may not otherwise be able to be mitigated or implemented without the use of a development agreement;
(c) promote stability and certainty in oil and gas project regulation by providing for the vesting of rights in the project and for the mutual enforceability of development agreements by all parties;
(d) provide a procedure for the adoption of such agreements that ensures the participation and comment of the public and elected officials;
(e) provide a partial mechanism for the financing of all capital facilities and public services as provided for in this Ordinance; and
(f) provide a mechanism for assuring that the operation and maintenance costs of all facilities required by the County’s development approvals are proportionally assessed to each applicant on an annual basis.
9.6.11.3. A development agreement shall be entered into and adopted only pursuant to this Section and shall have the force and effect of a land development regulation.
(a) Except as provided expressly to the contrary in a development agreement, development and use of the oil and gas property that is the subject of a development agreement shall occur according to the terms, conditions, and other provisions of the agreement, notwithstanding inconsistent land development code regulations and amendments.
(b) Where the development agreement does not include any term, condition, or other provision concerning a matter that is regulated by one or more land development code regulations as amended, then those land development code regulations shall apply.
(c) A development agreement will not take effect until it is recorded, by either of the parties to the development agreement, with the County Clerk within thirty (30) days after its adoption.
9.6.11.4. A development agreement shall:
(a) be consistent with the County General Plan including the Oil and Gas Element, and any applicable Area Plan, including but not limited to a Galisteo Basin Area Plan;
(b) be adopted by an ordinance of the Board after notice and hearing as required for the adoption of land development code regulations;
(c) be enforceable by the County and other governmental units that are party to the development agreement in the same manner as a land development code regulation;
(d) be enforceable by the owners of subsurface mineral estates and oil and gas lessees who are party to the development agreement and their successors in interest by civil action against the local government or other parties as may be necessary, except that if an enforcement action upon the development agreement by the County has previously been commenced and is still pending, any and all enforcement or disputes shall be determined in the enforcement action;
(e) be in writing and include the following terms:
(1) the names of all parties to the development agreement;
(2) a description of the oil and gas project which is the subject of the development agreement;
(3) a statement detailing how the development agreement is consistent with the General Plan and any applicable Area Plan, including but not limited to the Galisteo Basin Area Plan;
(4) the effective date of the development agreement;
(5) the duration of the development agreement, which shall not exceed ten (10) years except where the development agreement authorizes phased development, the duration of the agreement shall not exceed fifteen (15) years;
(6) a reiteration in full of the provisions of section 9.6.11.5, below;
(7) a reiteration in full of the provisions of section 9.6.11.4(d) and (e) above, and any other agreed terms concerning enforcement, including any agreement to submit disputes to arbitration or mediation before resorting to commencement of an enforcement action or civil action;
9.6.11.5. A development agreement may be cancelled at any time:
(a) by the mutual written consent of all parties thereto, with the consent of the Board by ordinance after a public hearing; or
(b) by the County if it finds in writing, after a public hearing with proper notice, that a hazard, unknown to the County at the time the development agreement was adopted, exists on or near the property of the oil and gas project that is the subject of the development agreement that would endanger the public health or safety if development were to commence or proceed pursuant to the development agreement.
(c) A development agreement, upon consent of all parties, may contain a mediation or arbitration procedure by which disputes concerning the development agreement may be decided. The decisions reached under such procedure shall be considered land-use decisions.
