SUBJECT:
Title
Planning Commission’s action to continue until December 1 consideration of proposed Ordinance Repealing and Reenacting Section 10-6-14 of the Erie Municipal Code, Regarding Development and Design Standards for Oil and Gas Facilities and Locations and requesting a joint study session with the Board of Trustees to discuss the proposed Ordinance.
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DEPARTMENT: Administration
PRESENTERS: Malcolm Fleming, Town Administrator
David Frank, Energy and Environment Programs Specialist
Deborah Bachelder, Deputy Planning Director
TIME ESTIMATE: 30 minutes
only required for non-consent items
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Discuss Planning Commission’s action and request for a joint meeting and give staff direction.
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SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND OF SUBJECT MATTER:
As part of the 2021 Work Plan, the Board of Trustees tasked staff with preparing a proposed ordinance establishing setbacks for new development from existing oil and gas facilities. To fulfill this request, and based on previous Board discussion on the matter, staff worked with the Town’s Oil and Gas Legal Counsel to prepare a draft ordinance, solicited comments from residents and the development community during two public listening sessions, and incorporated comments by the Town Attorney and staff. Staff discussed the proposed ordinance with the Board on May 20, August 5, and September 3. During the Board’s September 3 meeting, staff incorporated final revisions into the draft and the Board confirmed the draft ordinance was ready for consideration by the Planning Commission.
Any ordinance to amend section 10-6-14 of the Unified Development Code requires a recommendation by the Planning Commission and a Public Hearing by the Board of Trustees. Section 10-7-21.C.8.a <https://library.municode.com/co/erie/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT10UNDECO_CH7REAPPR_10-7-21AMTEUD> of the Code specifies:
a. Planning commission review and recommendation:
(1) The planning commission shall make a recommendation to the board of trustees to approve or deny the text amendment, based on the applicable standards of this section.
(2) If no recommendation is made within 60 days, then the planning commission may request an extension of time from the board of trustees. If no recommendation is made and no extension is granted, then the board of trustees may act on the proposed amendment without a recommendation from the planning commission.
The Planning Commission considered the proposed ordinance during its meeting on October 6. The video of that consideration can be viewed at this link <https://erie.granicus.com/player/clip/2693?view_id=16&redirect=true>. At the conclusion of that meeting the Planning Commission, on a 5-0 vote, (Zuniga, Sawusch, Ames, Hoback and Luthi) approved a motion to continue the matter until the Planning Commission’s December 1st meeting. The Commission also passed a second motion asking the Board of Trustees to have a joint study session to discuss this and to give staff additional time to prepare information to address questions the Commission raised during its review of the matter. Regarding the latter, Commission Sawusch noted that he wants to see specifically what is changing from existing requirements, clarification on measurement criteria, and summary from Planning Director Starr regarding his discussions with developers and what they want to see on the proposed ordinance.
Based on comments from Commissioners during their meeting, it appeared the Commission’s primary concerns were feeling like they did not have sufficient time to understand the implications of the proposed ordinance, and that the Board had held study sessions and reviews on this topic without the Commission’s involvement. Commissioner Luthi also noted that he had previously voted against proposed amendments to the updates to the Code on oil and gas regulation because he saw that as “trying to run oil and gas out of town” and now “we are asking developers who may or may not have plans in process to sign on to this”. Commissioner Sawusch commented, “It seems like we keep having these items come up where we have no say and there is very little discussion; it comes to us and it’s take the vote now and lets move forward. It’s disrespectful that we are not part of the conversation. I have a lot of questions, including the issues brought up by Mr. Lee.” Commission Chair Zuniga noted that she thinks the setbacks “go out quite far and there is a taking and that is a concern to me. We are preventing them from being able to do what they had previously been able to do with their property.” She also stated, “Last night we finally got to talk to the Board. We need to have communication with the Trustees. We talked about having joint study sessions on this. It’s not just having someone explain line by line on this, we need to have a discussion with the Board.”
For scheduling purposes the Advance Agenda for Board meetings is attached.
Board Priority(s) Addressed:
ü Engaged and Diverse Community
ü Prosperous Economy
ü Safe and Healthy Community
ü Effective Governance
ü Environmentally Sustainable
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Advance Agenda