A controversial plan to drill gas wells across the street from homes and a city park goes back before the Denton City Council tonight.

The council is expected to vote on whether to grant a special-use permit to allow up to five gas wells inside the planned Rayzor Ranch development, located on both sides of U.S. Highway 380 between Interstate 35 and Bonnie Brae Street. The proposed 3-acre drilling site is north of a hospital and retirement community and within several hundred feet of homes and McKenna Park.

A gas pipeline is planned from the site west along Scripture Street to I-35.

Council members tabled the permit earlier this month after opponents said gas drilling would bring excessive noise, dust, truck traffic and environmental hazards to the area. A neighborhood petition drive gathered 75 signatures against the drilling before the July 21 council meeting, and about 100 people gathered at McKenna Park on Thursday night to urge council members to reject the permit.

Representatives of Fort Worth-based Range Production Co., which is seeking the permit, have said they would follow all city and state drilling rules and erect sound walls to lessen the noise.

Brett Darr, who lives on nearby Panhandle Street and started the anti-drilling petition, said he’s not surprised by the groundswell of resistance to the drilling.

“I think it caught everybody off guard,” said Darr, who like many neighbors complained that the city didn’t notify them of the plan. “I think that’s the worst thing about it. Over time, as it spread out, it’s going to gain opposition.”

The land is part of the former J. Newton Rayzor homestead, where fields of grazing longhorns were a common sight for generations of Denton residents.

After the Rayzor family sold the ranch in 2005, Dallas-based Allegiance Development announced plans for a nearly $1 billion development featuring a shopping center, housing, office and medical buildings, museums, a park and an amphitheater, among other attractions. Allegiance Development is no longer involved with the project.

The developer and its financial backers, through a joint venture known as Allegiance Hillview LP, bought about 415 acres of land in all, including the landmark hill at the corner of I-35 and U.S. 380 and the

former Kmart property north of U.S. 380.

In Texas, land ownership can be split between surface rights and mineral rights. Rayzor Investments, a company run by a grandson of J. Newton Rayzor, held onto the property’s mineral rights during the sale, courthouse records show.

In 2006, Rayzor Investments signed an agreement with Allegiance Hillview to allow gas drilling on four potential locations on the northeast, northwest and southeast corners of the development. Two years later, the parties signed an amended agreement reducing the number of potential drilling locations from four to the one the council is now considering. Range officials have said the southeast site, across the street from McKenna Park, is the most promising based on geological studies. Calls to Allegiance Hillview representatives were not returned.

“Allegiance, the owner of the surface, was directly involved in approving and putting conditions on which sites we used [for drilling],” said Doug Elliott, president of Rayzor Investments. “And so it’s not as though no thought was given to it. I understand that some people have uncertainty about it and maybe don’t want something near them. But we were just trying to follow whatever safety rules and guidelines are in place and then work with Allegiance in determining what would be good locations.”

Asked if he would consider moving the proposed drilling site, Elliott said: “I’d be happy to have it anywhere. The person that controls the location of the site right now is Allegiance.”

In March, Range Production applied for and received state permits for five gas wells at the site, according to records with the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas drilling. The site is part of a 419-acre pooled unit that includes the former Rayzor family property, a state-owned highway (U.S. 380) and four adjacent tracts owned by Allegiance, state records show.

That means developers could be in line to receive some royalties from the drilling, despite their efforts to appear detached from the controversy. Mary Curliss Patton, regulatory manager for Range Resources, the parent company of Range Production, said she “misspoke” when she told council members that any drilling royalties would go only to Rayzor Investments.

“There are other mineral interest owners,” she said.

The property’s zoning allows gas drilling with a special-use permit. The Denton Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the permit in June with conditions meant to limit the effects of onsite noise and traffic.

In the early hours of July 22, the council voted 6-1 to table the item after more than two hours of discussion and public comments. Dalton Gregory, who cast the lone “no” vote, said he was prepared to make a motion to deny the permit.

Council member Joe Mulroy asked Range representatives to return with documents supporting their claim that no other sites were feasible for drilling. Mulroy said he believed the company had provided all of the paperwork he requested.

“That will be the subject of a closed session [with city attorneys] tomorrow,” Mulroy said Monday. “Until it’s reviewed in that light, there’s not anything to say publicly.”

Patton said she hoped the additional information would help council members make a decision.

Council members mostly have been reluctant to publicly share their views on the permit. Council member Charlye Heggins attended part of Thursday’s anti-drilling rally but declined a request to speak at the event.

Jim Engelbrecht, whose district includes the Rayzor site, said last week he was still studying the case.

Texas law broadly protects the rights of mineral owners to access oil and gas, so rejecting the permit could subject the city to lawsuits.

“You can’t deny mineral right owners the right to produce their minerals, but that doesn’t mean you can’t explore all potential options,” said council member Chris Watts, a lawyer. “That’s part of the issue, to make sure we have enough information before us so we can make an informed decision.”

Watts said the feedback he’s heard from residents has been overwhelmingly opposed to the drilling.

“I think that’s going to come into play,” he said. “I think all the information, taken as a whole, will come into play to make a decision. Each council member’s going to have to vote as they see it.”

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Denton City Council meeting

When: 6:30 p.m. today

Where: City Hall, 215 E. McKinney St.

Why: The agenda includes a possible vote on a natural gas company’s request to drill up to five wells across the street from McKenna Park. The council plans to discuss the request with attorneys behind closed doors during an afternoon work session.