But a family-owned energy company that has been working near Charleston for the last few years plans to drill wells on three wooded hilltops in North Charleston, off Hanna Drive and Zabel Drive. The company obtained required permits from a city agency last week.

Oil and natural gas wells are allowed in Charleston, city Planning Director Dan Vriendt said, but only through a special permit issued through the city's Board of Zoning Appeals. A number of zoning rules restrict where wells can be sited.

Probably the highest-profile well in recent memory is the one Columbia Natural Resources LLC drilled for the University of Charleston at Blackwell Field in 2004. The Municipal Planning Commission approved that well -- thought to be the first in the city since 1977 -- over numerous objections from South Ruffner neighbors.

Since then, one other well has been drilled, in the Hillsdale area above Garrison Hollow. That was drilled by Reserve Oil & Gas Inc., the Spencer-based company that plans to drill in North Charleston.

"We've been drilling in Kanawha County since about 2005," said Scott Freshwater, Reserve's vice president. "Starting in 2007, we started drilling around Charleston. We drilled probably 50 wells near the city limits. If you didn't know, that's a good thing."

In North Charleston, Reserve will drill on land owned by lawyer Kent George and his wife Georgette, who moved into a hilltop home last year just outside city limits at the end of Zabel Drive.

The Georges have been buying up large tracts of undeveloped property in the area, both in and outside the city, Vriendt said.

Some of it abuts a 65-acre city-owned tract called the Blackwell Property. Some sits past the gate at the end of Hanna Drive, past the turnoff to the city's former sewage sludge composting facility.

"If you come out Hanna, there was supposed to be a subdivision," Vriendt said. "But for whatever reason, it didn't pan out."

Old city maps show hundreds of lots laid out along streets with fanciful names like Kankakee Drive, Pocahontas Place and Ozone Drive.

Some folks used the area as a dump site, Kent George said.

"We took whatever [land] we had and cleaned it up."

City zoning rules say oil and gas wells must be at least 500 feet from any home, church, school, nursing home, hospital or sanitarium, Vriendt said.

"There's no one near. The closest are on Scraggs Drive, two homes.

"If you were going to do a gas well in the city, this is about as rural as it gets."

In approving the permits Thursday, zoning board members told Reserve to use sediment fencing along its northernmost well to protect Scraggs Drive residents from runoff.

Before drilling can start, Reserve must get permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection, Freshwater said. He estimated site construction could start in 45 days and drilling in about two months.

The wells will be just under a mile deep, tapping into the Lower Huron Devonian Shale. They're classified as shallow wells, unlike the controversial deeper wells to the Marcellus Shale that are all the rage these days.

Reserve has already drilled four wells on the Georges' property, all outside city limits, Kent George said.

"They approached us several years ago. They've done a tremendous job in how they treat the property. As far as how they treat the sites during and after, they've all been turned into feedlots for game. We planted nut trees. You end up with a small wellhead and a field.

"They have built roads in. We use them for mountain biking. They've done a good job of being minimally invasive and leave the property in good shape."

Reach Jim Balow at ba...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5102.