ARGYLE — With a temporary drilling moratorium lifted Tuesday night and well setbacks relaxed, more gas drilling rigs will soon rise above the hills and trees of Argyle.

“Citizens all over Argyle have signed leases,” outgoing Town Administrator Tobin Maples said.

He named well sites on Hickory Hill, Sam Davis and Harpole roads as the area’s next possibilities.

“We expect some applications in the next 30 days,” he said.

Argyle’s original ordinance was written before the Barnett Shale drilling boom and did not permit drilling within 1,000 feet of a residence. The new ordinance permits drilling within 300 feet, if the owner of the mineral and surface rights are the same. However, if the mineral and surface rights owners are different, then drilling is not permitted within 600 feet without the surface owner’s consent.

Although not affected by the moratorium, an application to drill south of Hic­kory Hill Road and east of Hickory Ridge Circle has been waiting for the ordinance revisions, Maples said.

Officials have not reviewed the proposed plat of the Hickory Hill well site since the application was filed and the town began rewriting its ordinance, Maples said. How­ever, according to Denton Coun­ty’s Plan­ning Division maps, the Texas Railroad Commission has permitted a well site between 1,500 and 2,000 feet from Hil­ltop Elementary School.

Argyle school Superintendent Carolyn Pierel said she did not know of any plans to drill near the school, and the school board has not approved drilling on school property. But the district does have an agreement to allow district land to be pooled with neighboring properties for drilling. Then, through horizontal drilling, a neighboring well can draw gas from the school’s property, she said.

Some horizontal, or lateral, lines have run almost a mile underground, according to Doug Mitchell, an operations field leader with EnCana Oil & Gas, but it’s not as efficient.

DRC/Gary Payne

Quentin Hix, Denton’s gas well inspector, is expected to monitor drilling
activity for the city of Argyle. Behind him
is a map of some of the gas wells in Denton’s west and southwest.

“Laterals are, ideally, 2,500 to 3,000 feet long,” Mitchell said.

The town’s new ordinance was written as a stand-alone document, which means it isn’t part of the town’s development code. The ordinance gets some zoning authority by requiring a special-use permit for each drilling site, Maples said.

“That way the council can look at noise and screening,” he said.

Without incorporation into the development code, the ordinance has no authority in the town’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, said Quentin Hix, Denton’s gas well inspector, who is expected to monitor the drilling activity for Argyle.

Council member Mark Bogosian said that he’s concerned that Argyle has not included the ETJ in its ordinance.

“It’s a concern of mine, given what’s going on in Denton’s ETJ, and I hope we can revisit that,” Bogosian said, adding that the town is watching the outcome of Denton’s lawsuit against Reichmann Petroleum Corp.

Denton has sued Reichmann for noncompliance with its ordinances, including safety and environmental problems, in the unincorporated area between Denton and Argyle.

Argyle approved its end of an agreement with Denton for Hix’s services, which includes reviewing plats and inspecting well sites for compliance. Denton’s Public Utility Board approved the agreement Monday, which puts it before the Denton City Council for final approval in early August.

“It will be the first time I’ve been called on to spend any measurable time” outside Denton, Hix said.

Corinth and Copper Canyon also have such inspection agreements, but only Corinth has had a gas well within its city limits. Copper Canyon Mayor Sue Temjl said that while many leases have been signed inside their city limits, there has been no drilling inside Copper Canyon. The town’s environmental regulations keep the bar high for operators, she said.

The location of most wells is driven by geology and where energy companies can sign up leases, Hix said. Municipal jurisdiction factors much later in their planning — so late, in fact, that they sometimes don’t consider whether there might be local development rules.

“They figure it’s easier to seek forgiveness than permission,” Hix said.

Staff writer Sarah Chacko contributed to this report.

PEGGY HEINKEL-WOLFE can be reached at 940-566-6881. Her e-mail address is pheinkel-wolfe@dentonrc.com .