Duchesne planning commission recesses airport overlay hearing after industry seeks clearer FAA and conditional‑use language

The Duchesne County Planning Commission on a continued public hearing voted to recess its review of a proposed airport overlay ordinance until Oct. 2 so staff can rework language about FAA authority and conditional‑use permits for oil‑and‑gas activity.

Planning staff opened the hearing by saying the ordinance, drafted to comply with House Bill 2006, aims to reduce risk and nuisance around Duchesne Municipal Airport by defining airport‑compatibility zones and prohibiting certain high‑occupancy or hazardous uses near runways. Staff noted the county must adopt zoning updates before the end of the year to meet the state deadline.

Neil Fraser of JUB Engineering, who helped prepare the ordinance map and technical materials, told commissioners that FAA determinations address hazards to air navigation but do not, by themselves, resolve whether a land use is compatible. “The FAA evaluates your project for impacts to the airspace,” Fraser said, “but they do not make a determination on land use.” He urged the commission to keep land‑use compatibility and FAA airspace findings conceptually separate.

Industry representatives, including Kelsey Carter of Javelin Energy, said language in section 3(h)(3) could be read to require conditional use permits for oil‑and‑gas activity even where existing zoning does not already require them. Carter asked for a clarifying clause tying any conditional‑use requirement to the county’s zoning provisions. “We’re concerned that the sentence reads like it presumes conditional‑use permits will be necessary,” she said, requesting the phrase be changed to “as required elsewhere in the zoning ordinance.”

Operators raised a related concern about timing. Jake Woodland of Wasatch Energy Management said his company has a five‑well pad slated to be drilled in October and asked whether approvals already underway would be grandfathered or delayed by the ordinance and any FAA review. Staff and Fraser explained FAA reviews can take months and suggested applicants file the appropriate FAA forms, which sometimes produce mitigation recommendations rather than a simple “no hazard” letter.

Commissioners and staff discussed removing a contentious horizontal‑distance clause (43,200 feet) from the draft as inapplicable to the Duchesne airport and agreed to fold the defined approach zone (10,000 feet) into the ordinance’s zone descriptions instead. After additional edits were proposed, a commissioner moved to recess the hearing to Oct. 2 to let staff refine wording and circulate it for review; the motion passed by voice vote.

The commission left the public hearing open and directed staff to draft revised language that (1) separates FAA airspace hazard determinations from local land‑use compatibility decisions and (2) clarifies that conditional‑use requirements for oil‑and‑gas facilities depend on existing zoning rules or an eventual county oil‑and‑gas conditional‑use ordinance. The county commissioners are scheduled to hold their public hearing on the ordinance later this year.