Monroeville addresses proposed zoning ordinance

While the draft form of a revised and updated zoning ordinance in Monroeville contains more than 400 pages, parts of the document addressing a particular topic are drawing practically all the public’s attention.

Residents and property owners in Monroeville and nearby communities oppose provisions that would allow for extraction of oil and gas in areas of the municipality that fall within certain zoning designations, in cases where a multitude of conditions must be met.

Along with environmental, safety and other concerns, a source of opponents’ contention is that the new ordinance as proposed expands the amount of land that potentially is available for the placement of injection wells, compressor stations and other industry-related facilities.

On April 4, a Monroeville Council public hearing drew a standing-room-only crowd, with many in attendance voicing their objections to both the current version of the ordinance and anything within it that would permit activities including hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract natural gas.

Municipal officials explained why attempting to ban such practices may not be in Monroeville’s best interest.

“What we have to be careful of is that we don’t make our ordinance exclusionary,” planner/zoning officer Paul Whealdon told the audience.

“We could be sued and we could end up in court, and a judge — or the district attorney, in another case — can tell us where to put it. And we have no choice. We have no say in that,” he said. “So we have to allow for it somewhere, and we just have to be careful where it goes.”

In Pennsylvania, case law involving property owners’ challenges to municipal zoning ordinances date back more than half a century, with the judiciary often siding with plaintiffs, citing violations of the state Constitution.

The state’s Act 13 of 2012 included language authorizing oil-and-gas operations as a permitted or conditional use in all zoning districts, basically eliminating a municipality’s say in the matter. The following year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down portions of the law dealing with restrictions on local zoning as unconstitutional, but municipal officials subsequently were advised against zoning out oil-and-gas development entirely.

Among the Monroeville residents who question the local ordinance as proposed is Lois Drumheller, a former council member who has questioned the process by which the document and its accompanying map have been developed.

“The introduction of industrial oil and gas infrastructure to Monroeville would pose innumerable dangers to not only Monroeville, but also to the surrounding communities such as Pitcairn,” she contended. “The status quo should be maintained, and the zoning ordinance should remain as it’s currently written by keeping the zoning district for oil and gas operations where they are now: industrial zones.”

Her statement was relayed via Protect PT (Penn-Trafford), “a local citizen’s group working to protect quality of life and human health from the impacts of fracking” that has been active in drawing attention to the draft ordinance. Penn Township and Trafford Borough both are adjacent to Monroeville.

With regard to Monroeville’s ordinance, the current version has been in effect since 1984 and subjected to dozens of amendments since, according to Whealdon.

“I was tasked with revising the zoning ordinance when I was first hired back in 2017,” he said. “I got started using the previous draft, which started in 2008. It was a long time in the process, and it got stalled multiple times. And even after I started it, it got stalled again with covid.”

Mayor Nick Gresock said that further public comment about the ordinance can be submitted to the municipality.

“This is a multi-step process,” he said. “We are not voting on it this month. There will also be multiple opportunities for residents to comment as it moves forward, as it gets closer to when we act on it.”

The proposed ordinance and zoning map are available at the municipal office and by visiting www.monroeville.pa.us.