CENTER TWP — A well-tapped township may soon hit maximum natural gas drilling capacity.

Center Township board of supervisors, meeting Wednesday, scheduled a public hearing for a natural gas well on private property off Roads End Lane. The hearing, where concerns with the project can be formally aired, is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 6 at the Unionville Volunteer Fire Company fire hall.

Board Chairman Ron Flatt said he thinks the well would likely maximize the township's drilling capabilities. This would be the fifth such well, according to township secretary and treasurer Anthony Amendolea.

“They've basically covered all of the municipality that they legally can,” Flatt said. “This would be the last place they could use and still be within our zoning limits.”

Dewayne Croll, 76, owns the land. In a phone interview Wednesday night, Croll said the property in question is about 67 acres, and that a drilling platform would probably take up somewhere around eight or 10 of those acres. The land is currently farmed for corn and soybeans on alternating years.

Croll is one of many in the township who previously leased land to Rex Energy for gas drilling purposes in exchange for royalties from its use.

Rex Energy went bankrupt last year, and then PennEnergy Resources bought Rex Energy. Croll said his lease with Rex Energy was among the assets bought.

“Beyond that, I don't know the details of who's going to do what and when,” Croll said.

He said before being called by the Eagle for comment, he didn't know the matter was going before the board this week. He and neighbors had been hearing from the company about their plans for some time.

Supervisors broached a familiar concern in the township's dealings with Rex Energy: truck traffic. Earlier this year, PennEnergy agreed to help fund repairs to Brown Road for damage blamed on Rex Energy trucks using a shortcut off approved trucking routes.

The board plans to limit the company from using part of Moore Road for fears that traffic patterns and a steep hill would create safety concerns.

“Vehicular traffic leaving the site, exiting out Moore Road and heading south would incur inordinate danger,” Flatt said.

The board wields some ability to levy additional requirements on such uses of land beyond the base-line of what's in written law so long as their requirements are reasonable, according to township solicitor Michael Gallagher.

Gallagher suggested if the drilling proposal clears the board and the law, neighbors would need to mount a substantial fight at the May 6 hearing to untrack the plan.

“The applicant has the burden of meeting all the objective provisions set forth in the ordinance,” Gallagher said. “If he meets that burden, then the burden shifts to any objectors to show that there is going to be harm to the neighborhood because of it, and the burden is not a light burden, it's a very heavy burden.”

The township's code indicates that such a hearing is required by state law. It also stipulates various safety requirements at a drilling site, such as 8-foot fences, warning signs, 24/7 security personnel when drilling or fracturing equipment is on site, and a written emergency response plan.