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Newcastle council approves two oil-and-gas CUPs with conditions after public debate over screening and truck routes
Summary
The council approved two conditional-use permits for adjacent wellbores on a shared pad site after requiring 24‑foot and 16‑foot sound walls, full‑cutoff lighting, a submitted landscaping plan and limits on truck routing; the mayor recused due to a mineral‑interest conflict.
The City Council approved conditional-use permits for two oil-and-gas wellbores on a shared 3.86‑acre pad site west of Highway 62 after extended public comment and negotiations over mitigation measures.
Planning staff said the pad met most setback rules for wellbores but the edge-of-pad setback to one protected dwelling was 336 feet — inside the 460‑foot pad‑edge requirement in the city ordinance — while the wellbore itself was about 660 feet from the protected use and therefore met the wellbore‑to‑protected‑use standard. Planning staff recommended conditions to reduce neighborhood impacts. Jenae Greenlee of the planning department told council, “We can go to 250 feet without consent. With a waiver it can be reduced further,” and explained the distances the ordinance requires.
The applicant, Jeff Clark of Eckert Operating LLC, told council the company…
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