MIDDLESEX TWP — People who speak at Tuesday’s zoning hearing regarding the zoning amendment that has shut down the development of the Bob and Kim Geyer gas wells on Denny Road must abide by strict rules.

The eighth session of the zoning hearing will be at 4:30 p.m. at the township fire hall, and the first two hours of the proceedings will be for property owners to voice their opinions.

The zoning hearing is the result of a challenge to a gas and oil amendment to the township zoning ordinance passed in August by the supervisors.

Four Middlesex residents plus two Philadelphia-based environmental groups — the Clean Air Council and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network — are challenging the zoning amendment because it allows unconventional gas drilling operations in much of the township.

Attorneys from the township, Rex Energy and Mark West Energy Partners support the amendment.

The challenge has caused a stoppage of the work on the five Rex Energy gas wells at the Geyer farm, which a group of Mars School District parents have protested because they say shale gas drilling would pose a health and safety hazard to the students in the nearby Mars schools.

Mike Gallagher, the zoning board solicitor and facilitator of the hearing sessions, has issued rules for those who plan to speak Tuesday.

Since the hearing began in November, those in attendance have been observers only. At the last hearing on Feb. 17, zoning hearing board President George Born said the public can speak at Tuesday’s session, although attorneys for Rex Energy, Mark West and the township objected to the move.

Gallagher stressed that the public input will not be evidence, but simply statements for the zoning hearing board as it decides whether to support the zoning amendment.

In his rules, Gallagher said that the public should present their viewpoints “much like an attorney presents a closing argument.”

He said only those who own property in the township can talk. Comments will be limited to three minutes, unless the board decides to extend the time.

Speakers may not ask questions of anyone and must direct their comments only to the board.

Each speaker must be courteous with no name calling or personal attacks. Gallagher said “intolerant or disruptive persons may be stopped from further speaking or ejected.”

The list also says applause will be withheld until each speaker is finished, and no petitions, photographs, letters, documents, exhibits may be submitted.

Kevin Colosimo, the Burlson LLC attorney for Rex Energy, said he does not object to the public having their say. But he said because the zoning hearing board is a quasi judicial entity, the board members must make their decision based on evidence only as in a court.

“Courts of law don’t allow you to have the public come in and comment,” Colosimo said. “The passion or prejudice of the public at large shouldn’t be considered.”

He said the public’s opportunity to speak is before elected officials, who are the supervisors.