Monday, November 4, 2013

Where are Denton’s Priorities?

City Council, Staff, and the Planning and Zoning Commission held a joint meeting today to identify their planning and development priorities for the next three years. Despite the ongoing controversy over the Bonnie/Vintage neighborhoods – and despite the fact that EagleRidge has just put a new rig up right outside of Southlakes Park – gas well drilling did not make the list of priorities.

Here’s a look at the Southlake well sites.



The blue circles are the newly permitted (by the Railroad Commission) wells that EagleRidge will be putting in. Note there are four of them, distributed across three pad sites. It looks like two of them are old vertical wells that will be converted to horizontal wells. And it looks like two pad sites might be less than 1,200 feet from Southlakes Park (classified as a protected use). This would clearly be a violation of the ordinance for the new pad site, at least. Has anyone measured these distances?

Now look at the surrounding area on this map. Do you see all those red asterisk-like dots? Those are all gas wells. If the Vintage/S. Bonnie situation is a good indicator of the future of drilling around here, then all of those gas wells can be reworked and refracked. Moreover, all those pad sites can have new wells added to them. In just this little snapshot of the city, I count about 20 gas wells already. That number could easily be 40 or 60 once gas prices go up and another drilling boom comes and operators add wells to existing sites.

 

All that industrial activity spread throughout town, especially in areas where future growth is planned…and we don’t have gas drilling on our list of priorities?!


Amber Briggle, newly minted P&Z Commissioner, finally raised this issue at the end of the meeting. The response she got from the Mayor was that we don’t have a problem with our gas well ordinance; we just have an enforcement problem. So, why are they not enforcing the rules on the wells in the Vintage/S. Bonnie neighborhoods?

 

This is what has people in those neighborhoods so confused, frustrated, and angry. Kids started getting sick when the rigs showed up. Parents have been diagnosed with asthma. A young family there just brought home their newborn baby. There are at least two other expectant moms. Several families are looking to sell their homes.

 

And this isn’t a priority.

 

The Gas Well Inspection Division posted aerial photos of the gas wells and the neighborhood from 2001 to 2011. Here are a couple of those pics.






 

 
 

Note how the wells preceded development of the homes. DR Horton knew about the wells and opted to build close to them. But not a single home buyer was informed about the wells. We have the 1,200 foot setback to protect residents. If the people actually living near the hazard freely choose to reduce the setback, then that is one thing. But it is another thing entirely when a major land developer makes that choice for the residents without even telling them about that decision.

Under our current regulations, we don’t have any way to guarantee that future residents will be informed about gas wells near them. Here’s what we do have (quoting from our current ordinance): “a Protected Use or lot within a previously platted residential subdivision where one (1) or more lots have one (1) or more habitable structures may be located as close as two hundred fifty (250) feet of a pre-existing Drilling and Production Site.”

 

In other words, we are inviting this same situation to happen again and again. So, how is it that we don’t have a problem with the ordinance? How is fixing all this not a priority?

12 comments:

  1. Its less than 600 feet... This is crazy...

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  2. I guess this blows the theory that the Southridge & Forestridge neighborhoods are somehow sacred cows!

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  3. Using the measurement tool on the RRC GIS map, the well pads are about 710 feet from the park.

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    1. Thanks - I am going to try to post that to make the measurement clear. I went there today to take pics and what you say makes sense - there is no way it is 1,200 feet. I was guessing 800 or 900 tops...and that is to the drilling rig itself, not the edge of the pad site.

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  4. Obviously this activity is occurring on an industrially zoned piece of property. Seems like the people who live next to it would be used to trucks & noise coming from the brick plant. Obviously the plant was there before the park & no one worried about kids playing next to a known pollution source. Finally, based on the plats there are a lot of Denton residents/businesses that are benefitting from this, including the owners of Mr. Chopsticks & Cornerstone Baptist Church. Because of this , it would be relatively easy to move the new pad to the east & get the landowners to sign waivers if that's really what everyone wants. Methinks thou dost protest too much!

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    1. I doth protest indeed. We have a 1,200 foot setback rule on the book. The very least they can do is move it further from the park to comply with our rules. Geez - is that really asking too much from this industry?!!

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    2. Actually, they are in compliance with the rules! Never mind - I don't have a legal leg to stand on!

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    3. Maybe "Thou dost assume too much." That's what we've learned. Most people become quite upset when they become educated about these things. Industry and their cheerleaders like to think they speak for the people. They rarely do. When is it ever "relatively easy to move a new pad site"...that would be called changing the surface location and that costs money. Industry never likes to change course. They are very stuck in their ways and in their rhetoric.

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    4. So you think when people living in the shadow of a major point source emitter of air pollutants like Acme Brick or United Copper learn about oil & gas exploration they will become upset? Maybe the City should just put up signs on the road leading to the new subdivisions like they do at Eureka Park. Something along the lines of WARNING - YOU ARE ENTERING AN ACTIVE OIL & GAS EXPLORATION AREA

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    5. Ben, it's 2013. If we have learned anything as human beings, it should be that we know cancer can be caused by chemical pollutants. So, any community with ethics should do all they can to protect people from exposure. It's sad that some people are so selfish with what they know. It's that philosophy that says, "if it doesn't affect me, it's not my problem."

      The Warning Signs idea doesn't work...the problem is our cities don't acknowledge a problem and are in total denial in many cases. The problem with shale gas/oil drilling is that the kool aid was good, it felt like winning the lottery and it had some kind of numbing affect on the part of the brain that thinks clearly.

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  5. I wasn't being serious but there are signs at Eureka Park in case you don't know. I think real estate agents should tell people when they look at a new subdivision & that the developer of a subdivision should be held equally responsible for any loss in home value (if that is proven to be the reason). I think what happened to the Ruggiero family in Wise County is also a problem & would caution people who are buying property in active areas to do their research before buying a piece of property.

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    1. I agree with you here. We need to hold land developers, and real estate agents, accountable for doing their part to disclose information about activities around their properties. If people choose to accept a risk, that is one thing --- but not knowing about it does make it a problem. And yes folks should do their due diligence- would be good if there was a way to make that research easier for them...I just think it is hard for the average home buyer to track down the info.

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