LANCASTER TWP — Township officials will decide Monday on the future of a gas well in the township when a gas company seeks permission to build well pads and an access road.

A conditional use hearing will be at 6:30 p.m. in the township community center, 113 Kings Alley, Harmony, to determine whether RE Gas and Development, a subsidiary of Rex Energy, can construct two temporary well pads and an access road.

The proposed well site would be off Saltworks Road, which intersects Route 19 near the Log Cabin Inn, according to Mike Endler, a senior director of civil and environmental engineering for Rex Energy.

“As a separate, but related project, Rex Energy is proposing improvements to Saltworks Road, which is a township-owned road,” Endler said.

He added that traffic on Route 19 would be minimally effected.

Endler said the project would help the county and the township.

“Impact fee revenue generated from this well will directly benefit the township and county,” Endler said in an e-mail.

Endler said the application was submitted to the township on Jan. 20, and the township’s planning commission voted on Feb. 11 to recommend approval to the supervisors.

Operations for the project would be broken down into four phases and would involve three parcels of land, all of which are under lease with Rex Energy, Endler said.

The first phase would be the construction of the wells which would last two to three months. The second phase would consist of drilling and take one month per well. The third phase would last about one month and include hydraulic fracturing.

The fourth phase would be production and operations, which would last the life of the wells.

Endler said Rex Energy plans to have the two wells completed and in production this year.

Rex Energy has 10 well pads in the township, Endler said.

Township zoning officer Benjamin Kramer said all oil and gas wells in the township must go through a conditional use hearing.

Springfield Restaurant Group officials were contacted and declined to comment.