No decision on drilling ordinance

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

ST. MARYS - Despite one councilman asking for movement on an ordinance to regulate drilling in St. Marys, the city council decided to wait.
During Monday's city council work session, a motion by Councilman Dick Dornisch to approve a proposal from Attorney Robert P. Gign Jr. of Confluence to review the city's draft of an amendment to the zoning ordinance to restrict where drilling may be permitted died for lack of a second.
Councilman Steve Skok said he would provide the city manager with the name of another attorney who may be able to review it.
Dornisch said it has been a year since the council began talking about adding amendments about driling to the ordinance and there still isn't anything in place.
The delay will push it back another three or four months, he said.
Councilman Bob Roberts said it would have cost the city $8,000 to $10,000 to have Gign look at the ordinance.
The city's solicitor has reviewed the ordinance, but told the council previously that someone who has experience in this particular area should review it as well.
Dornisch said the solicitor didn't find anything drastically out of line and, in his opinion, it's extremely important to get something on the books that the city can fall back on.
"They're (the Marcellus Shale drillers) knocking on the door in Elk County," Dornisch said.
Matt Pfeuffer, zoning officer, said since last fall, work has been done to update the city's flood plain management ordinance. The city is required by the Department of Community and Economic Development to do the update.
The revisions have been made and it has been submitted to the DCED, he said. It makes sense to wait to approve it until the DCED is satisfied with the changes.
Dornisch said, "It's the most ridiculous piece of legislation I've ever seen in my life." He said there are 340 items in it.
Last fall, there were three pages of revisions. Now, there are 10, Pfeuffer said.
Pfeuffer said there are several big changes including references to things like the Uniform Construction Code, but the majority of the issues, like the UCC, are already addressed in other ordinances.
The flood plain changes as well as the stormwater ordinance need to be incorporated into the zoning ordinance, and so does the oil and gas drilling ordinance, Nero said.
Pfeuffer said because these are all zoning issues, it makes sense to do all the changes at once, then publish them to save advertising costs.
The deadline for the flood plain ordinance is January, he said.
Dornisch said it boggles his mind that the country is being buried under legislation like this.
"Most of this stuff means absolutely nothing to us," Dornisch said, adding the town has only seen flooded street a handful of times. "We don't live in a flood plain."
He said from time to time local officials need to say enough is enough.
In order for the city to receive any federal disaster money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, it needs to make the required amendments, Pfeuffer said.
Pfeuffer said it's likely the ordinance was developed for municipalities that don't cover these types of issues in other ordinances.
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Reported by JoAnn Seltzer, staff writer. E-mail:jseltzer@thecourierexpress.com.