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2010_04.15 PZ Minutes1054 MINUTES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION APRIL 15, 2010 KENNEDALE MUNICIPAL BUILDING, 405 MUNICIPAL DRIVE COUNCIL CHAMBERS WORK SESSION, 6:00 P.M. REGULAR MEETING, 7:00 P.M. Commission members present: David Hunn (Chair); Ernest Harvey (Vice- Chair); Frank Fernandez, Charles Overstreet, Billy Simpson. Staff present: Rachel Roberts (Planner). Mr. Cowey was present at the opening of the meeting only and left before the roll call. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Hunn called the work session to order at 6:02 P.M. ROLL CALL Mr. Cowey apologized to the Commission and said he was needed for set -up for Art in the Park and would be unable to attend the meeting. As there were no cases on the agenda, the Commission saw no need for him to be present, and he left the meeting. Ms. Roberts called roll for the work session. WORK SESSION A. Proposed Amendments to the City of Kennedale Oil & Gas Ordinance Ms. Roberts told the Commission that she had been researching air sampling requirements but so far had not seen any city ordinances that required air sampling for gas wells. She said they may just have to use what the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality samples. Ms. Roberts also brought up the issue of permit fees. She said she had been looking at what other cities charged for gas well permits. She added that from a staff perspective, it's easier to charge a flat fee, rather than the graduated rate, and that it looks like we might be undercharging based on what other cities are charging. She also said that it wasn't clear in the ordinance whether the graduated fee structure for gas well permits was supposed to start over with each application or with each pad site, but staff had been interpreting it to mean with each application. The Commission discussed how to make the fee structure clearer and asked Ms. Roberts to include in the proposed revisions language making it clear that the fee scale starts over (at $5,000) with each new application for a particular pad site, whether it is an existing pad site or new pad site. Mr. Overstreet mentioned that the city needed to look at the community maps and start planning where pad sites should go or should not go in the future, considering all the new data coming out about ground water and air. Mr. Hunn said that was something the Board of Adjustment should 1055 look at with each new application that comes in. Mr. Overstreet said we do overlay districts and that kind of planning, and he wondered why this was exempt and wasn't planned. Mr. Harvey said it was straddling the line between utility [and not utility]. Mr. Overstreet said they didn't have the rights of a utility. Mr. Harvey said those rights start to shift around when drilling a well [unclear; the tape did not pick up all the discussion]. Mr. Overstreet stated that they didn't have unlimited rights to drill wells. Mr. Hunn said that he thought in Texas they do, if they have the mineral owner's permission. Mr. Overstreet countered that that doesn't mean that communities can't limit where these things can go, as they've been doing that with oil drillers. The Commission discussed what rights cities had to control locations and whether gas drilling counted as a utility. Mr. Overstreet said Kennedale isn't the only community that's starting to ask questions about this. He added that the gas companies claim to know more about the environmental impact than they actually do because there isn't any real data or example for this dense of drilling. He wondered if those discussions need to be had at some point, and maybe there is a way to have some kind of plan so that BOA [the Board of Adjustment] knows what to do. He added that it's saddling them [BOA] with a lot if we have no plan. Mr. Hunn asked how to do that, to designate areas as no -drill zones. Mr. Fernandez asked if BOA had already addressed that, and asked if someone at the last BOA meeting had said that we were going to puncture two of our wells. He asked Ms. Roberts if she had checked on that. Ms. Roberts said it was on her list of things to do but that she thought if the water department had been concerned about it, they would have said something because they get copies of all the applications and hadn't said anything in their comments. Mr. Fernandez said that at the last BOA meeting, someone had addressed that as a fact. Ms. Roberts said she thought they had said the laterals were going to go under the wells and were worried. Mr. Fernandez said that they had said it would hit two wells, and Mr. Adams and Mr. Vader [of the BOA] wanted to make sure that there were real hazards at that time. Ms. Roberts said that TCEQ won't let them go through the groundwater, but they can go under, and that's probably why they [the resident] was worried, that the chemicals might migrate up, which is a concern. She said that what Mr. Adams wanted to do was make the gas company make an indemnification statement. Mr. Fernandez said money was the least of his worries. Mr. Hunn said that he didn't see that was possible because of the different depths of the wells and the laterals. Mr. Overstreet said he didn't know if we had a vehicle for giving the BOA any guidance, that it might have to be a case by case basis. The Commission returned to its discussion about annual inspections and permit fees. The Commission noted that it shouldn't charge fees for work covered by city staff in their routine work. The Commission asked Ms. Roberts to do a cost assessment for hiring a consultant to do annual gas well inspections. The Commission also asked Ms. Roberts to prepare the draft amendments to the city code for public hearing at the Commission's meeting in May. Chairman Hunn closed the work session at 6:58 P.M. In between the work session and regular meeting, Ms. Roberts distributed to the Commission members books related to form -based codes. REGULAR MEETING Chairman Hunn called the regular meeting to order at approximately 7:00 P.M., and Ms. Roberts called roll. 1056 II. VISITORS /CITIZENS FORUM No one wished to speak. III. MINUTES: Approval of minutes from the March 2010 Planning & Zoning Commission meeting. Mr. Fernandez made a motion to approve the minutes from the March 2010 Planning & Zoning Commission meeting, and Mr. Overstreet seconded the motion. There was no discussion and the motion passed with all in favor. IV. STAFF REPORTS 1) Update on City Projects Ms. Roberts said that Bark in the Park the previous weekend was a success, and Art in the Park would be that coming weekend. Ms. Roberts reminded the Commission of the TownCenter groundbreaking to be held on April 24 She also told the Commission that a group of UTA [University of Texas at Arlington] students would be presenting an economic analysis of Kennedale on Tuesday, May 4 [this date was incorrect; the presentation was on May 6], and another group of UTA students would be presenting a report on economic development in Oak Crest during the city council work session on Thursday, May 13 Mr. Fernandez asked Ms. Roberts to bring an overview of road projects to the next P &Z meeting. Mr. Fernandez reminded the Commission that there would be a debate among the city council candidates on April 27 in the city council chambers. VI. ADJOURNMENT Mr. Harvey made a motion to adjourn the meeting, and Mr. Overstreet seconded the motion. The motion passed with all in favor, and the meeting adjourned at 7:11 P.M. David Hunn, Chairman Planning & Zoning Commission ATTEST: Rachel Roberts Planner