Dickinson amends oil-well zoning rules, issues nonbinding requests for Scout Energy site

Dickinson, N.D. — The Dickinson City Commission approved a zoning-text amendment on Sept. 16 to remove the citys conditional-use permit requirement for oil wells and to clarify the citys process for issuing nonbinding development requests to the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC). The commission also issued a letter of recommended development requests for a proposed Scout Energy well site in Dickinsons extraterritorial zone.

City planner Natalie Burczyk presented Ordinance 18-31, explaining the change removes the municipalitys conditional-use permit (and associated special-use language) for oil well drilling and replaces it with a public-notice hearing process. Burczyk told commissioners the change "better align[s] the Dickinson Municipal Code with the North Dakota Century Code requirements regarding the permitting of oil well drilling," noting actual permitting authority rests with the NDIC. The ordinance inserts language requiring a city public hearing (with at least 15 daysnotice) to determine whether additional reasonable site requirements should be placed on a proposed site and to provide a resolution that the applicant has informed the city; the resolution is intended to be shared with the NDIC as part of the applicants NDIC permit application.

Separately, Burczyk presented a letter of recommended development requests for a Scout Energy site. The nonbinding requests recommended (1) implementing sediment track-out reduction methods for access on 30 Ninth Street Southwest, (2) collaborating with the Dickinson Fire Department during emergency-response drills, and (3) limiting truck traffic to use 30 Ninth Street West as a dedicated truck route to and from North Dakota Highway 22. Burczyk noted city staff cannot enforce those operational requests because drilling permits and operational enforcement fall under NDIC jurisdiction, but the citys resolution and letter would make the citys expectations clear to Scout Energy and the NDIC.

Action: Motion to approve the zoning-text amendment (Ordinance 18-31) was made by Commissioner Murphy, seconded by Commissioner Frederick, and the commission voted unanimously in favor. A separate motion approving the Scout Energy letter of recommendation passed without public opposition. No public speakers addressed the ordinance or the Scout Energy letter during the hearings.

Why it matters: The code change clarifies that oil-well permitting remains a state-level function and replaces the local conditional-use process with a notice-and-resolution framework so the city can state expectations without asserting permit authority the city does not have. The Scout Energy letter gives the citys operational preferences for the site that will be passed along to the NDIC with the applicants materials.