Does Bayfield need its own oil and gas land use regulations?
Town Manager Chris La May raised that question with the town board Tuesday evening.
"Right now the town has very little" about this, he said. "The thought is we should have something. Some of the things I looked at were access at the well site, screening, noise, tracking mud from the well site" onto town streets. "We're starting to annex properties that have well sites. Do we want setbacks from those?"
He wanted to know if trustees are interested in this, and if so, what level of regulation they would want.
Oil and gas development in residential neighborhoods has been a hot issue on the Front Range for a couple of years. Gov. John Hickenlooper created a statewide task force in 2014 to look at possible regulations in trade for having several issues pulled from the 2014 election ballot. After meetings around the state, the task force was able to agree on some proposed regulations in early 2015 that didn't seem to satisfy anyone. Initiatives on oil and gas development are likely to be on the ballot this November.
Bayfield's town attorney Jeff Robbins was a member of that task force. "I do a lot of work in this area for communities and worked for the county when gas was booming," he said. "I helped develop and amend the county's regs. I worked with Boulder County on their regs. I'm now working for Adams County, which wants to encourage oil and gas development."
He noted that the mineral estate is often separated from surface ownership and has the right to be developed. Counties and towns can make sure that happens in a way that's as compatible as possible with other uses.
In La Plata County there may be two or three wells drilled from one pad, but on the Front Range it can be 15 or 20 wells from one pad, using horizontal drilling and fracking, he said.
Robbins said the county's development director is willing to come talk to town trustees. "The county regs have been time tested and legally challenged. I defended them."
The meeting packet for trustees included sample regulations for local governments from the State Department of Local Affairs (DOLA). Robbins advised some of those provisions have been invalidated in recent court rulings. But he said he has a lot of other regulations in his computer files that the town could consider.
La May noted there are gas wells already in town, with subdivisions that developed around them, including Mesa Meadows and Dove Ranch. Sunrise Estates also has a gas well. There's a gas well just west of County Road 501 north of the stoplight.
In late 2000, BP announced plans to drill a well just south of the mid school in the northwest corner of 40 acres now owned by the school district and proposed for construction of a new school for grades 3-5. Back then it was owned by a private developer who had been trying since 1994 to get a subdivision plan and annexation approved by the town. The well plan affected one pod of the proposed subdivision plat. The developer said it would cost 24 lots, possibly making the subdivision non economically viable. The well was drilled in 2001.
Trustee Rachel Davenport asked if there have been complaints about any of the well sites.
La May said not really, because they were already developed. The company does occasional maintenance. "I don't get a lot of calls about the well pads. Some of the challenges, when we had inquiries about annexations that have well pads, is what will the setbacks be? It would be good to have a known factor so they can make a decision whether to move forward" with annexation, La May said.
Robbins said the recent court rulings require a more subjective approach to things like setbacks. He suggested this is a good time to do something about regulations since there isn't much oil and gas development activity.
"I think it's a good idea to have the regs," Mayor Pro Tem Michelle Nelson said. "Somewhere in the middle; look at what the county does, because anything we annex is already under those."
Davenport said, "It's a good idea to have your ducks in a row." She asked if a new well proposed in town would be governed by the county rules.
"We're the land use authority," La May said. He said he'll look at the county regulations with an eye to "middle-of-the-road" town regulations, and send it to the town planning commission.
