Loveland Planning Commission votes to recommend new oil and gas regulations – Loveland Reporter-Herald

A set of oil and gas regulations that are as stringent or more stringent than those in Colorado are a step closer to passage in Loveland. The city’s Planning Commission voted Monday to recommend approval of the new regulations, although questions remain about setbacks from open space and trails.

The city’s Development Services Department has been reviewing oil and gas regulations since last November, after the City Council imposed a moratorium on development and asked staff to amend city regulations to reflect new standards set by Larimer County and the state’s oil and gas regulatory agency, the Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC).

Seven months, two public meetings and two study sessions later, staff and oil and gas legal consultant Matt Sura are now proposing regulations that meet or exceed both bodies’ standards and, in many cases, would be the strictest in northern Colorado.

Among them were Loveland’s proposed standards for noise regulation, air quality and dust control, which Sura called “nuisance issues.”

“Honestly, when you move to a county, you expect there to be some farm noise, there to be some dust from county roads,” Sura said. “Those are things you would expect in counties, so we felt we could be more stringent there.”

If Loveland’s enforcement and financial safeguards regulations are formally adopted, Sura said, they would give the city greater ability to stop oil and gas drilling that violates health or safety regulations.

While not the strictest, the new regulations include significant restrictions on where oil and gas operations can be located within city limits. They will be prohibited in all but three of the city’s districts—Industrial (I), Developing (D), and Planned Unit Development (PUD).

Additionally, the new regulations will require a 2,000-foot setback from the property line to any existing or designated school facility, licensed day care center, medical facility, or senior living facility, and 1,000 feet from residential properties, public parks, commercial buildings, and bodies of water.

Limbaugh explained that imposing these restrictions on the map will make it more difficult to develop within the city limits of Loveland, although there will be some development management areas to the east and south of the city.

“I think that’s probably why we don’t draw a large audience to these events, because most of the city’s residents or the people involved in development management simply won’t be affected by these events,” Limbaugh said, referring to the city’s last open house on June 6, which was attended by fewer than 20 people.

But the bill does not include a setback to city trails and open spaces, which Limbaugh said would make oil and gas development in Loveland virtually impossible. Such a provision would be hard to defend if challenged by the oil and gas industry.

The omission didn’t escape the attention of the city’s Open Land and Trails Commission, which sent Parks and Recreation land agent Brian Hayes a letter urging commissioners to consider including those areas in the setbacks. Planning Commission member Kiel Schuett also opposed the change, not buying Limbaugh’s argument. He later filed a motion to amend the draft ordinance to include a 1,000-foot setback for open space after being dissuaded from adding trails.

Other commissioners opposed the amendment, calling it unnecessary due to the transient nature of trails and open space, or, agreeing with Limbaugh, calling it “overregulation.” After several minutes of discussion, the amendment died, but the commission verbally agreed to convey its concerns to the City Council.

The committee later recommended approval of the draft regulations by a vote of 6 to 3. Lori Goebel, Oelsia Paul and Geoff Frahm voted against.