Aug 30, 2016 3 min read

A court ruling Monday clears the way for Mt. Pleasant Township to act on a conditional use application for the Yonkers well pad along Baker Road.

Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future filed a motion seeking a court injunction to stay any action on gas drilling activity by the township board of supervisors as it seeks a resolution to a separate complaint on the validity of the township’s ordinances allowing gas drilling in all zoned districts. The latter issue will be taken up as part of a hearing before the zoning hearing board Oct. 4.

The three-page ruling from Washington County President Judge Katherine Emery said, in part, PennFuture’s goal to halt the Range Resources application process was inappropriate because a conditional use application for gas drilling is not considered land development.

“This court finds that land development is an essential element to invoke the stay of proceedings and not any ‘official action’ by the municipality as argued by (PennFuture). Lacking legal authority and because this court does not find that a conditional use application to be land development, (PennFuture) has failed to meet their burden of showing they are likely to prevail on the merits that they are entitled a stay,” Emery wrote.

The ruling means the Mt. Pleasant Township board of supervisors must approve or deny the application for the natural gas drilling site just under a mile from Fort Cherry schools by Oct. 6. The board held a public hearing without voting on the application Aug. 22 under a temporary stay issued by Emery.

PennFuture attorney George Jugovic Jr. stuck to legal arguments examining municipal law in the injunction hearing and called no witnesses. Attorneys for Range Resources called a witness, Carl Carlson, the company’s director of government affairs, who said Range was at risk of losing millions of dollars if its application process were delayed, and lessors would lose their royalty payments as well. Range attorney Blaine Lucas said several references to the proximity to Fort Cherry schools are red herrings, since the district has not sought to intervene in the proposed drilling and production site.

In the meantime, PennFuture is challenging all future gas drilling activity in the township stemming from a May 27 filing challenging the validity of the township’s zoning ordinances. In the filing, PennFuture argued the township’s ordinances declared invalid in October 2013 because of Act 13 rulings never had curative amendments to explicitly allow or prohibit gas drilling as an industrial activity in certain areas of the township.

PennFuture gained legal intervenor standing on behalf of 10 township residents at a July 25 zoning hearing board hearing. Township solicitor Thomas McDermott told the court Monday he believed the zoning hearing board made an error in granting that status to the residents because they were not within two miles of the site.