As drillers show more interest in Penn Township land, municipal officials are planning to create an overlay zoning district that would allow oil and gas extraction from almost anywhere in the township but prohibit wells and other drilling structures in residential areas.
Township officials plan to meet with their consultant from the Olsen and Associates firm next week to continue revisions to a new zoning ordinance and zoning map. A new draft of the ordinance is expected to be posted to the township's website in August as officials prepare for second public hearing in September or October.
Because state law bars municipalities from creating a “safe zone” from drilling, township officials are discussing the size of “substantial, reasonable” setbacks necessary to limit the disturbance to residential areas while preserving oil and gas rights for property owners or lease holders, solicitor Les Mlakar said.
Like the draft township officials put out for public review in May, the new proposal would continue to allow extraction in residential areas — such as through horizontal drilling techniques — but prevent wells, sediment ponds or pumping or compressor stations in neighborhoods, Mlakar said.
“We're not calling them ‘permitted uses,'” Mlakar said about various operational facilities. “They're going to be special exceptions no matter what area, but we're trying to isolate the residential areas.”
Six of the 12 residents who commented during the May public hearing expressed worries about drilling affecting their general quality of life or the rural character of the township.
Officials of Apex Energy, a Marcellus shale-drilling company, are considering as many as eight projects in Penn Township. Company representatives have been soliciting residents in the Level Green area for baseline water-quality tests related to a possible drilling site in the township near the North Huntingdon and Trafford borders.
Earlier this year, Bow & Arrow, the land-procurement arm of the Huntley & Huntley drilling company, bought 219 acres off Pleasant Valley Road near the Murrysville border.
Mlakar updated the township's work on the zoning ordinance during a public meeting Monday night after residents Michael Bertonaschi, Marian Szmyd and Val Lamanna asked for answers about how township officials are responding to drilling.
Szmyd said she wants her well water to be protected and township officials to create substantial setbacks.
“You are the police state of this township; you make the rules,” she said. “I cannot do anything — add an addition (or) whatever — and you're going to welcome this industrial use into our township?”
Lamanna requested that township officials take greater efforts to inform residents about drilling activity.
“I talk to people, and they have no idea what I'm talking about,” Lamanna said. “They're like, ‘That's out in Washington County. There's not going to be drilling in Penn Township.'”
Like the residents, Commissioner Ed Sullivan described himself and his board colleagues as “concerned citizens” who don't have anything to gain from drilling activity in the township.
Sullivan said he even expects drilling to affect his quarter-acre residential lot, but he doesn't own the mineral rights.
“We don't oppose, necessarily, gas drilling,” Sullivan said of the commissioners' position, “but we want to make sure it's done responsibly.”
Chris Foreman is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-871-2363 or cforeman@tribweb.com.
