| Committee Chairs |
| Architectural Control: |
OPEN |
|
| Budget Advisory: |
David Kinkema |
|
| Pool: |
Richard Kessler |
|
| Social: |
OPEN |
|
| Website: |
Reta Reed |
X |
| Amenities: |
Lisa Burdick |
X |
Other Attendees:
- Scott Souder – Spartan
Geophysical L.L.C.
- A large group of
homeowners
Approval of
Minutes from Prior Meeting:
All previous minutes can be found on our
website.
Financial Report:
Operating Fund: $74,831
Replacement
Fund: $42,294
Common
Property Fund:
$2,104
Petty Cash
Account: $2,234
New Business:
- Scott Souder from
Spartan Geophysical L.L.C. to provide a Q&A session on the letters we have
received. No other business will be conducted.
Q&A Session Notes:
Q. Does Spartan have a drill site picked out?
A. Yes, but this information has not been release to the public yet.
Q. Have you determined if we as residents own our mineral rights?
A. Spartan has completed a surface ownership through public records at the
Tarrant appraisal District to determine who the rightful owner of the land is,
but we have not completed a mineral rights ownership investigation.
Q. How do you determine who owns the mineral rights?
A. Once we have a signed letter of intent to lease your mineral rights, we will
conduct a mineral rights investigation. If we determine that you do not own the
mineral rights, we will share that information with you and won’t just tell you
that you don’t own them.
Q. How close to an existing structure can you drill?
A. In Tarrant County that distance is 300-600 feet.
Q. Has Spartan leased the mineral rights in other areas?
A. Yes.
Q. How does the lease work?
A. Like the offer states, we will lease your mineral rights for a period of
three years with an option to lease for two more. You will receive a bonus of
$13,000 per mineral acre and a royalty bonus of 25%. What that means is if your
letter states you own .18 mineral acres, your bonus would be $13,000 * .18. The
25% royalty would be shared among all the residents in the affected area and you
would receive an amount equal to your lot size.
Q. Will we get a check at the signing?
A. We will give you a draft that you can take to the bank with an amount on it
equal to your share according to your lot size. The bank will contact our bank
that you wish to deposit it and once we have that contact, we will begin the
mineral rights search. If we determine that you do own your mineral rights, we
state you will have your funds within 45 “banking” days which equates to about
60 “calendar” days.
Q. Is this a lease of or a purchase of mineral rights?
A. We are only interested in leasing your mineral rights.
Q. What happens if we get another offer from another company?
A. You have every right to entertain any offer from any company. Just make sure
that they have a drill site picked out and have applied for their permit with
the City of Ft. Worth.
Q. What happens if not everyone signs the lease agreement?
A. If we get a majority, we can still drill, we just can’t drill under a house
that didn’t lease us their mineral rights.
Q. Can their mineral rights be pulled out even through they
didn’t sign the lease?
A. Think of it this way, if you have a helium filled balloon and you poke a hole
in it, the gas is going to come out. It works the same way with a gas lease.
Q. How will the drilling be done?
A. We use a technique called hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “fracing”,
which uses water and sand that is forced into a hole at a height rate of speed
to break up the ground and cause fissures in the ground to allow the gas to
escape.
Q. Can someone else
own the minerals underneath my property? How can I tell if I own my minerals?
A.
Yes – It is possible that the mineral ownership may be different
than surface ownership. A deed/title search may be necessary for one to
determine who actually owns the minerals under a piece of property.
Q. Will drilling affect the foundation
of my house?
A. There is no documented evidence of
drilling affecting foundations. Most foundation problems occurring in the North
Texas area are a result of ground swell and contraction during alternating
periods of wet and dry weather.
Q. Can a gas well be placed on my
property without my permission?
A. As a general rule, an operator would
rather have the surface owner’s permission before putting a well site on a
particular property and will pay appropriate damage fees to the surface owners.
Any other actions would be preceded by legal action involving the operator and
the property owner.
Q. Will someone be on the drilling site
at all times?
A. During drilling operations there are
personnel on-site 24 hours. Completion operations are usually conducted during
the day, but personnel may be on-site 24 hours during a short flow-back period.
If there are not personnel on-site (Operations or Private Security), then the
site/equipment must be secured.
Q. Will the ground sink if stone and
gas is removed?
A. No. We don’t actually remove any stone, just gas.
Q. How far below the surface is the well typically?
A. Between 6,000 and 8,000 feet.
Q. How far out can a well go?
A. Typically, a horizontal well won’t go farther than 4,000 feet.
Old Business:
Committee
Reports:
Social
Committee – Open
Budget
Advisory Committee – David Kinkema
ACC – Open
Web Site –
Reta Reed
Amenities –
Lisa Burdick
Director
Report:
Manager
Reports:
Open
Discussion:
Adjournment:
The meeting was
adjourned at 8:45 pm by
Bryon Chesser.
Next Board
meeting will be August 14, 2008.
