CRANBERRY TWP — Supervisors will decide Oct. 7 whether to limit Marcellus Shale gas drilling primarily to commercial properties along major roads as a way to protect its residential areas.

The supervisors finished taking comments on the ordinance Thursday night as several residents warned of the dangers to public well water, which some residents still use.

Resident Celeste Bullion said she doesn't want to see pollution in the groundwater as from the drilling.

Resident Dan Page echoed Bullion's comments about well water contamination.

Rocco Viola Jr. said his family owns about 80 acres on Rolling Road zoned commercial that is not included in the township's proposed gas development resource ordinance as eligible for drilling. He told supervisors that he would like his property to be eligible.

With the growth in Marcellus Shale drilling operations in Butler County, Cranberry has proposed regulating where drilling can occur and put what officials consider reasonable restrictions on it through conditional use rules.

Under the proposed ordinance, natural gas drilling would be a conditional use, which enables Cranberry to place additional conditions on the activity, such as landscape buffers to neighboring properties.

The measure defines gas resource development as site preparation, construction, drilling, hydraulic fracturing, restoration associated with a gas well, water and other fluid storage, impoundment and transportation used for these activities, and the installation of all equipment.

Drilling would only be permitted in commercially zoned areas, including transitional light industrial, planned industrial/commercial, light industrial and special use.

Those areas are clustered mostly around the major highways of Routes 19 and 228.

Township officials said that if Cranberry does not provide a zoning area, the drilling could occur within any zoning district without restriction.

Supervisor Dick Hadley said the proposed ordinance is an effort to protect the residential areas as much as possible.

"This is so new, there are so many questions," Hadley said. "The board should be open to look at other things in the future."

"This protects us. The DEP (state Department of Environmental Protection) is going to set the regulations," said supervisors' chairman John Skorupan of the proposed ordinance, adding that the township can only regulate where and not how drilling can be done.