04/20/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular Council Meeting Minutes 4-20-09 Page 11 trees have been cut except in a very limited area close to the house. The massive area in the backyard is completely flattened. This is not insignificant. This is a major decimation of this property, of wildlife potential. So to think that these drilling sites are innocuous is misleading. Ms. Butler would like to have you look at the shot in the lower right which shows a nicely enclosed structure that is about as big as the garage. It's a significantly large structure. She asked Jim if we can get a close-up on the lower left. The picture was unable to come up on the screen. But, there was another structure that has drilling equipment in it. The side has fallen off the structure. A piece of plywood is lying on the ground and the pipes are completely exposed. Ms. Butler has no idea how long this structure has been in that condition. There are children who live on this property. Council President Buckholtz asked if the properly owner is here tonight. Ms. Butler replied, no; the properiy owner did not answer the door when she knocked. Council President Buckholtz said he does not tlunk anyone in the room would condone that this is what we want to see or this is what we want for land, so we get that point. He knows that there are five things Ms. Butler wants to get to. Ms. Butler would like to deal with the issue that has to do with the Bonnieview property versus the Village releasing its 10 acres to Seagull. Seagull has amassed 28 acres of mineral leases in the Stonecreek condos and they have promised to directionally drill on Bonnieview. Drilling from the back end of the Bonnieview site toward the condos. This is devastating of course for the neighbors, however, we believe that Seagull would vastly prefer to drill on this site that includes the Village's 10 acres. It is unclear whether this placement is,-the decision between the two properties is better or worse for the neighborhood as a whole but for Seagull it's clearly better to have the Village property be used because the access is easier and directional drilling is unnecessary. On the Village site, Seagull could drill straight down saving about $75,000.00. That's an approximation in terms of cost. The savings incentivizes Seagull to drill ori Village property and we do not want to reward Seagull. If the Village negotiates, it legitimizes Seagull. When Seagull reps go house to house, they can say the Village is negotiating with us, why won't you? We feel that this endorsement would make it even harder for homeowners without the background in gas drilling to protect themselves from Seagull and other drillers. As it is, homeowners are signing leases that have no liability protecrions. In negotiating, the Mayor hopes to protect the Bonnieview neighborhood by getting Seagull to agree to a restrained drilling on other sites in the Village. If Seagull were to be the only driller in the neighborhood, this might be a wise strategy, but other drillers have gotten a strong foothold in the Beech Hill area. If Seagull agrees to restrict its drilling activities, it could simply sell its leases to another driller making money without breaking his promise to the Village. One active driller, Ohio Va11ey Energy, has a drill site near Seneca and Beech Hill. Ohio Valley Energy is the driller behind the disaster at Bainbridge. The other driller, John Denning, has a drill site in the same area. John Denning is closely alive with Seagull. Neither can drill without a 20-acre parcel, group of parcels, and they don't have it yet. People in Hanover Woods will work closely with our friends in the Beech Hill area to prevent this expansion.