BUTLER TOWNSHIP — The township commissioners voted Monday night to table action on two ordinances — one dealing with unconventional gas drilling and one dealing with noise at businesses.

The action on the zoning ordinance for oil and gas drilling came after township solicitor Larry Lutz recommended that the commissioners table the measure, saying it would be unwise to proceed without waiting for a resolution to a Middlesex Township case that he believes will eventually go to the state’s appeals court.

In that case, county Judge Michael Yeager is presiding over a legal challenge that seeks to overturn changes that Middlesex supervisors made to that municipality’s zoning ordinance to allow wells to be drilled.

“I think it’s prudent so we’re not amending it (repeatedly),” Lutz said of his recommendation to commissioners Monday.

Lutz’s advice prompted questions from residents about what rules drillers have to abide by now, and concerns that the township might have to wait years for a resolution to the Middlesex case.

“If you’re going to wait for the Middlesex case to be decided, you’re probably going to be waiting a very long time,” said Joseph McMurry of 103 Windsor Drive.

In response to questions about how the township would handle drilling applications in the interim, Lutz said the township’s 2012 ordinance, which some residents referred to as the “drill everywhere ordinance,” is the standard, but that township officials could choose to review well drilling applications that might violate the pending ordinance.

“We’re trying to keep as many weapons in our holster as possible,” Lutz said.

Township officials have been fact-finding for months for the ordinance change after residents petitioned the commissioners to restrict areas where unconventional drilling could take place.

The proposed ordinance would limit drilling to land zoned for industrial and agricultural use and to large residential parcels zoned for developments like duplexes, apartment complexes and college campuses.

In July residents delivered a petition to commissioners they said contained 260 signatures supporting the restrictions.

According to online information maintained by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection there are 35 active, unconventional gas wells in the township.

Thirty-four of those wells are in six separate well pad formations. Five of those groupings are in the township’s southern half.

Another ordinance up for consideration dealing with noise created at businesses also was tabled after zoning officer Jessie Hines told the commissioners that more time is needed to gather information.

The township for months has been considering adopting an ordinance taking over noise enforcement from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Enforcement, which is an arm of the state police, after tensions between a Greenwood Drive tavern and two neighbors boiled over this year.

In August members of the LCE told township officials that they didn’t believe the dispute between Rock Ann Haven and neighbors Fuji Sisca and Greg Macklin would be resolved amicably, and warned that the issue could result in the business losing its liquor license or being shut down by an administrative law judge.

The neighbors claim that the bar creates noise that can be heard from across the road, and they have filed complaints with the LCE, which has cited Rock Ann Haven multiple times for noise violations.

Bar owner Kirk Kearn has said the LCE regulations are impossible to comply with and that the business is not a nuisance bar. He asked the township to take over noise enforcement.

The move would allow the township to set its own rules, but would require township police to respond to all noise complaints and enforcement.

Hines said he hoped to have an ordinance ready for consideration next month.