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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGBA 2011-03-10 Minutes MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE GAS BOARD OF APPEALS OF THE CITY OF NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, TEXAS MARCH 10, 2011 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Tom Duer at 6:30 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL PRESENT Chairman Tom Duer Garry Cope Randy Shiflet Kathy Luppy ABSENT Marty Kusmierski CITY STAFF Director of Planning & Dev. John Pitstick Asst Dir of Public Works Greg Van Neiuwenhuize Asst Chief Mike Rawson Recording Secretary Gina Pastre 3. Approval of January 13, 2011 Gas Board of Appeals Meeting Minutes. APPROVED Randy Shiflet, seconded by Kathy Luppy , motioned to approve the minutes from January 13, 2011. The motion carried unanimously (4 -0). 4. GB 2011 -01 Public hearing and consideration of a request from Chesapeake Energy Corporation for a deviation from distance requirements from existing structures to gas wellheads at the proposed Kyle 1H, 2H, 3H, and 4H gas wells at the Engler Well Site located in the 7300 Mid Cities Boulevard. Distance requirements are established in Section 104 -6 of the City of North Richland Hills Code of Ordinances. John Pitstick came forward and stated that this is request for a deviation for 4 wells proposed at the Engler property. The approval of these wells would be a total of 13 Page 1 of 6. 03/10/11 GBA minutes wells that we have permitted at the Engler property. That will make 56 wells in the city. This a request for these 4 wells and this has occurred prior on the same site. They have an existing well site there and the landscape is up and they have recently painted the structure. They have painted it to a brick color to match the city facilities across the street. There are 5 properties that are within 600 feet. There is 4 homes on Luther on Ct and 1 at 6300 Buckingham Dr on the North side. They are between 494 feet 595 feet from these 4 proposed wells at this site. Chesapeake has given us all the applications for the well site and everything is clean with the exception of the approval for the deviation on the distance requirements. We have not heard from any of the property owners. These are the same property owners that were notified on previous applications. Staff is recommending approval unless there is someone here tonight that has any other comments. We would be happy to answer any questions. Scott Castaneda, 100 Energy Way, Fort Worth, TX 76102, came forward representing the applicant Chesapeake Energy. Thank you for your time this evening. Tonight I will be speaking to you regarding our Engler Pad site and some of the benefits your citizens and the city may receive as well as seeking 4 gas well variances. The Engler pad site is located on private property at 7300 Mid Cities Blvd just east of Rufe Snow Drive. We have installed landscaping and the masonry wall at this location. The city and board members had requested that we match the wall color to the city facility across the street. We have also drilled 2 wells at this location previously and we are seeking 4 well variances on the Kyle 1H-4H. We have the Engler units that are affected as previously stated the first well was drilled to the north into the Engler Mann unit and the second well was drilled to the south into the Engler unit. The 4 wells that we are seeking variances for today will be drilled into the Kyle unit to the south as well. These 2 units allow us to access over 1700 residents and businesses. The transportation route is a previously approved commercial route. It comes from Loop 820 north onto Rufe Snow, east onto Mid Cities Blvd, south onto Iron Horse Blvd and onto the pad site. We have not received any complaints for the use of this route for the 2 previous wells. There are no protected use structures within 300 feet but there are 4 structures within the 600 feet. I have been in communication with these residents since before we began our operations at this padsite. They are well informed and are very pleased with our operations to date. Some of the benefits of the existing and additional wells. Key Beneficiaries include the City of North Richland Hills, Birdville ISD, Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church and North Park Baptist Church as well as over 1700 residents and business over an approximate 750 acres. This allows us to maximize the use of an existing site while minimizing our footprint within the city. Furthermore the potential benefit of these wells include close to $10 million dollars in local royalties approximately $4 million in local and state taxes and more than $11 million to local workforce and businesses. Another positive thing regarding our operation within the city is that recently TCCD and Birdville ISD were able to provide a scholarship program where any of the students that graduate from Birdville can attend TCCD for 2 years for free. That is a great benefit for your citizens. Chesapeake respectfully asks the North Richland Hills Gas Board of Appeals to unanimously approve the gas well variance for the Kyle 1H-4H to be drilled at the Engler pad site. At this time I would be happy to answer any questions. Garry Cope asked if all 4 of these wells will be going south? Page 2 of 6; 03/10/11 GBA minutes • Scott Castaneda said yes. They will be drilled into the Kyle unit to the south. Randy Shiflet asked if there were any issues with drilling under the railroad tracks or does the railroad have any issues with that? Scott Castaneda said no. We are almost a mile and 1 /2 below the surface so it doesn't affect that in any way. Public Hearing opened at 6:36 pm With none wishing to speak Public Hearing Closed at 6:49 p.m. APPROVED Randy Shiflet, seconded by Garry Cope, motioned to approve GB2011 -01. The motion carried unanimously (4 -0). 5. GB2011 -02 Public hearing and consideration of a request from Chesapeake Energy Corporation for a deviation from distance requirements from existing structures to gas wellheads at the proposed Morrow Stevens West 2H gas well located at 9201 Kirk Lane. Distance requirements are established in Section 104 -6 of the City of North Richland Hills code of Ordinances. John Pitstick came forward and stated this is a request for a single well at the Morrow Stevens well site. I believe this will make 12 wells that we have permitted at this site. I will point out that they have not made a pipeline connection yet. They are working all over the city to get the pipeline ran to get connected. Hopefully they are able to get this done soon so some of the existing shut in wells can begin to flow to market and get some royalties as a result of that. There is a subdivision to the north and they have had previous requests for variances at that subdivision. There are 3 property owners on Glendara Drive that have been notified previously as well as Mrs. Stevens at 9201 Kirk Lane. There are only 3 houses in Thornbridge subdivision and the barn on the Stevens property. The staff has looked at everything and we have not received any complaints or comments. They have been actively drilling at this site and actually just pulled off yesterday. They just drilled 3 wells back to back. Scott Castaneda, 100 Energy Way, Fort Worth, TX 76102 came forward representing applicant Chesapeake Energy. I will be speaking to you tonight about our Morrow Stevens pad site and we are requesting a gas well variance. The Morrow Stevens pad site is located on private property at 9201 Kirk Lane west of Precinct Line Rd. Landscaping and the masonry wall has been installed. We do have a plan for 20 wells for this location and we currently have 10 wells and are finishing up our 11 well and if approved for the variance will be our 12 for the MS west 2H. The drill that we are seeking will be drilled into the MS West which is located to the southwest of the padsite. We do have 5 units associated with this padsite. The transportation route which takes Page 3 of 6. 03/10/11 GBA minutes us from 820 north onto Precinct Line Rd, onto Kirk Lane and then onto padsite. This is a previously approved commercial route with a side entrance and exit from Kirk Lane. We have not received any objections from the use of this transportation route. There are not any protected use structures within 300 feet but we do have 4 protected use structures within 600 feet. We have not received any complaints or objections to date. We are working with the Grace Meadows Neighborhood Association to the right of the padsite. Since they are seeing the most traffic through Kirk Lane onto the padsite we want to make sure that we work with them to keep them happy. Benefits from the existing and additional wells are Key Beneficiaries are City of North Richland Hills, Birdville ISD and Grace Meadows HOA as well as 1500 residents and businesses over approximately 1400 acres. We have been able to maximize the padsite while minimizing the footprint within the city. We are able to reach numerous mineral owners off of this one padsite. The potential economic benefit from these 12 wells include close to $21 million and local royalties and approximately 9.3 million in local and state taxes and more than $23 million to local workforce and businesses. In conclusion Chesapeake respectfully asks the North Richland Hills Gas Board of Appeals to unanimously approve the gas well variance for the MS west 2H. I would be happy to answer any questions at this time. Tom Duer said that they have done really well with very few complaints. I was listening to the radio the other day and they were discussing another city and they were saying that they have a distance requirement of 1000 feet and the person on the radio was complaining that the noise was keeping them up. Is Chesapeake using any different equipment than other drilling companies in this area? Scott Castaneda said that there are different types of rigs out there. We do have some of the best state of the art rigs that you can get. We also implement a lot of techniques such as using sound walls and rubber mats. We coat some of our surfacing with rubber so that it quiets down some of the noise coming off of the rig. If we do have issues than we will look into further techniques. We have sound engineers that actually come out and determine those factors. John Pitstick said that we have had some issues with the Grace Meadows. There is a lake or pond with an open area. It seems to be more of a problem with vibrations more than a noise problem. Mike Rawson said that they have a monitoring device on that site that is within 300 feet of the east wall. We get a daily reading from that and as you know that different levels of sound are different. I think those are the sounds they are hearing because we have an open space with the pond. We have purchased one of those meters ourselves but we haven't received it yet. Once we get it we will start doing some of that same monitoring. We are able to identify exactly what is causing that specific sound. The report we have received is that it will identify aircraft, cows next to it. John Pitstick said that it isn't that we don't get complaints but Chesapeake responds very quickly to them and having the in house inspectors has allowed us to maintain these complaints. We have had complaints with the disruption with the pipelines. Page 4 of 6. 03/10/11 GBA minutes Tom Duer said that those are just the pipelines. John Pitstick said that we have the drilling, the pipelines and the seismic testing all going on at the same time. Mike Rawson said that if we can identify exactly what is causing that sound that is disturbing the resident Chesapeake has been very responsive on taking care of it. Tom Duer said that the fact that we are getting no notification on these sites. People that have experienced previous drilling at these sites seem to be satisfied. These residents are sent notification and the board has not had anyone show up with public hearing complaints. So apparently any problems that people are experiencing are being taken care of. Scott Castaneda said that we are starting construction on the pipelines and we are out there working on that and are hoping to have it completed by June or July. Tom Duer asked if all of these would start producing at one time? Scott Castaneda said that maybe it just depends on what kind of activity we are having on the padsite. If you have a rig out there you may have to shut a few wells down at the time of drilling because of where the well heads are located. Garry Cope asked if you have made any specific noise reduction changes at Morrow? Scott Castaneda said yes. We have added sound walls and rubber on the floors to help with the banging and have also added a coating on the surfaces. John Pitstick said that some of the complaints we get is the clanging of the pipes when they are attaching. Mike Rawson said that when they are tripping pipe, they are rolling pipe off of the rack onto the lift to set it up. There is a lot of clanging from the racks. They have coated those racks with a rubberized material that is taking care of that. We haven't had many complaints since then. Garry Cope said that it is nice to know what specifically they are doing to accommodate for the sound complaints. Tom Duer said that we have been doing these public hearings for 3 years and they haven't came in to us. You would think if there was a sizeable complaint with the notifications they would come in. John Pitstick said that we notify everyone within 600 feet. Randy Shiflet said that in addition to the notification it is also posted. Page 5 of 6, 03/10/11 GBA minutes Public Hearing Opened at 6:52 pm With noone wishing to speak Public Hearing Closed at 6:52 pm APPROVED Garry Cope, seconded by Kathy Luppy, motioned to approve GB 2011 -02. The motion carried unanimously (4 -0). There was some General Discussion on current drilling status and setting up for another possible well site visit. 6. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:03 p.m. Chairman Secretary 44 fr i t Tom Duer athy Luppy Page 6 of 6. 03/10/11 GBA minutes