Construction is under way on a gas well site at Denton’s Rayzor Ranch development, after months of public debate and legal wrangling.

Range Production Co. started work on the site last week after clearing a series of legal, political and regulatory hurdles. Up to five natural gas wells are planned at the 3-acre site across Bonnie Brae Street from McKenna Park.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

A worker helps put up a sound barrier Monday at a gas well site at the Rayzor Ranch development in west Denton. Range Production Co. plans to drill up to five natural gas wells at the development across the street from McKenna Park.

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Range officials expect to start drilling the first well by next week, said Mike Middlebrook, vice president of Barnett Shale operations for Fort Worth-based Range Resources, the parent company of Range Production. The drilling is expected to last 20 to 30 days and would be followed sometime later by about a week of hydraulic fracturing operations, Middlebrook said.

The company plans to build a pipeline from the site west along Scripture Street to Interstate 35 early next year, Middlebrook said.

The success of the first well could determine whether more are drilled.

“Right now it’s kind of up in the air,” Middlebrook said. “But it’s going to be several months at the earliest” before work begins on a second well.

Denton resident Jay Wilson said he could hear construction noise from the site Saturday outside his home on Thomas Street, east of McKenna Park. He initially thought a home was being razed nearby, he said.

“You could tell when the dozers were really exerting themselves, because you could hear the engines rev,” Wilson said.

The City Council approved a zoning permit in October allowing gas drilling at the site despite widespread opposition to its location near the park, neighborhood, a hospital and other medical facilities. The approved permit includes 21 conditions on top of the city’s normal rules aimed at limiting noise, traffic, light pollution and health and safety hazards.

Denton’s planning department and fire marshal’s office are responsible for enforcing the city’s drilling rules, city spokesman John Cabrales said. Officials from those departments could not be reached for comment Monday on how they would ensure that Range complies.

Middlebrook said the company is prepared to follow the city’s regulations.

“We’re putting a sound wall up; that’s probably one of the primary things,” he said. “We’ll be monitoring the sound continuously 300 feet from the pad site.”

Work on the site started just days after Range won a legal battle that could have stopped the drilling. A judge ruled in favor of Range in a contract dispute with the Rayzor Ranch developer over whether the right to drill there had expired.

Officials with Allegiance Hillview LP, the group behind Rayzor Ranch, had argued that Range’s right to use the property ended when Range missed a July 11 deadline to start drilling. Range officials said they missed the deadline for reasons beyond their control, including a city review process that took longer than expected.

The contract allowed for a deadline extension if the city failed to issue permits — as long as the applicant “timely” submitted applications and “thoroughly” pursued their approval. Denton County state district Judge L. Dee Shipman cited that clause in ruling in favor of Range, according to a final judgment signed Wednesday.

Allegiance officials have said they were discussing whether to appeal the ruling. They could not be reached for comment Monday.

Meanwhile, the City Council meets this afternoon to review whether the city’s gas drilling rules need updating. Denton’s first gas drilling ordinance took effect in December 2001, at the start of the Barnett Shale drilling boom in North Texas, although officials have tweaked it since then.

Several council members called for an overhaul of the ordinance during the contentious Rayzor Ranch case. They said they wanted to rethink the city’s rules on noise, street maintenance, setback distances between wells and homes, and other issues, in order to better protect residents in future drilling cases.

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

IF YOU GO

What: Denton City Council work session

When: 2:30 p.m. today

Where: City Hall, 215 E. McKinney St.

Details: The council will discuss potential new gas drilling regulations and review ordinances of area cities. The Texas Railroad Commission regulates oil and gas drilling, but cities can approve their own limits. Denton’s current rules — found in the development code — include a 500-foot setback between wells and occupied structures, although the distance can be cut in half with the property owner’s approval. Noise cannot exceed 90 decibels measured at 300 feet from drilling sites.