By Rudy Hemmann

The Surveyor

More items of note from town board meeting of Tuesday, May 14, 2019:

The town board authorized an administrative suspension of oil and gas (fracking) permit applications. An information sheet provided by town staff states in part:

“On April 3, 2019, the State passed oil and gas legislation in the form of Senate Bill (SB)-181. This new law authorizes increased local control regarding oil and gas development.

With the passage of SB-181, many communities in Colorado are imposing a temporary suspension on permits so they can study the issue and to consider possible regulatory frameworks. Staff believes that a 180-day suspension would provide the Town with enough time to consider the issue more fully.”

Town Administrator Chris Kirk gave a brief presentation to introduce the item to the board. In his presentation he reported the town’s community development director, Curt Freese, is already working with planners from other Larimer County municipalities to develop a regulatory framework that would work for many of the municipalities within the county.

Because the number of permits for oil and gas exploration is relatively light in Berthoud it was assumed by Kirk that there is little likelihood a potential oil/gas exploratory company would be inconvenienced by the suspension.

Following only brief comment a motion in favor of a “resolution imposing a temporary (180-day) administrative suspension of consideration of oil and gas permit applications,” was made, seconded and passed unanimously.

In other action:

Due to the fact the State of Colorado is making changes to the version of the 2018 Model Traffic Code which the trustees had hoped to adopt at the May 14 meeting, staff recommended postponing this item to a future date. 

A motion directing staff to reschedule discussion and/or adoption of the 2018 Model Traffic Code for Colorado when a final version of such code is available, was made, seconded and passed unanimously.