Fayette zoning board grants gas well variance
The Fayette County Zoning Hearing Board has approved a request for a use variance from Atlas America Inc. to operate a natural gas well and production equipment on property in Star Junction. Board approval came Thursday, ending a case that started last September but was continued several times, once because none of the zoning board members showed up for the hearing.
The landowner, Thomas Rebottini, as well as family members and neighbors, testified against granting the variance for his 125-acre property along Tony Row Road, Perry Township.
While Rebottini owns the land, Atlas owns the gas rights.
Atlas land manager Michael Adams testified in an earlier hearing that the company, which obtained the oil and gas rights to the property from Penneco Pipeline Co., usually requires five or six days to cut an access road to a well site and level an area for the drilling equipment.
A hydraulic drill will then operate 24 hours a day for five to seven days to go 4,000 to 4,500 feet deep, he said. Next, a pipe is installed to connect the well to a pipeline system, and the last step is restoring and reseeding the property.
Adams testified that equipment delivery to the site is sometimes delayed, so the entire process could take three months to complete.
When the work is done, the only traffic to and from the well will be a well tender, who will visit the site daily to monitor the pressure in the line and check for leaks, Adams testified.
The well does not make noise or emit an odor when it is operating, he said.
In other business Thursday, the board approved a parking variance that Byzantine Inc. of Bridgewater requested for a Dollar General and Movie Gallery in Masontown, along Route 21 near the Cloverdale Street intersection.
The board also granted a special exception that Donald M. Miller II of Uniontown requested to convert the old Cavert Wire plant on Main Street in Oliver into an incubator site containing storage and warehouse space for small businesses.