MIDDLESEX TWP — The fifth session of a zoning board hearing about a challenge to the township’s gas and oil ordinance had the former township manager testify for more than 5.5 hours Tuesday night.

The hearing at the Middlesex fire hall was the result of a challenge to an amendment to the township zoning ordinance passed in August by the supervisors.

Four Middlesex residents plus the Philadelphia-based environmental groups the Clean Air Council and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network are challenging the amendment because it allows unconventional gas drilling operations in much of the township.

Attorneys from the township, Rex Energy and Mark West Energy Partners support the amendment.

The challenge caused a stoppage of the work on the five Rex Energy gas wells at the Bob and Kim Geyer farm on Denny Road, which a group of Mars School District parents oppose because they say shale gas drilling operations would pose health and safety hazards to the students in the nearby Mars schools.

On Tuesday the township solicitor and attorneys for Rex Energy began their defense of the ordinance by calling witnesses.

Solicitor Mike Hnath called Scot Fodi, who was township manager when the ordinance was approved by the supervisors.

Fodi worked as manager and zoning officer in Middlesex from 2004 until just a few months ago, so he saw all three of the existing Marcellus Shale gas wells in Middlesex start up.

Fodi described in detail the zoning districts in the township and their purposes. Of particular interest was the residential-agricultural district approved by the supervisors in November 2012. The well pad on the Geyer property is in the R-Ag district.

Hnath has long maintained that unconventional shale gas drilling is permitted in that zoning district.

Hnath’s questioning revealed that sewage pump stations and farm animals are permitted uses in the R-Ag district, and that a rod and gun club could be approved as a conditional use.

Fodi said the R-Ag district is a mixed-use district because a mobile home park, golf course, fire station, a school and a park are in it.

Hnath had Fodi list the restrictions and requirements placed on Rex Energy in drilling a gas well, which include notifying property owners within 1,000 feet of a well; providing the township with plans for erosion and sedimentation control, road access and emergencies; bonding and road maintenance agreements; listing Rex Energy contacts who could be reached at any time; keeping dust and mud off the roads, having proper signs, and restricting hours of construction operation.

Fodi also said township ordinances would impose noise limits and prohibit glare from lighting on the road.

Hnath referenced the section of the township’s 2004 comprehensive plan that mentions the goals to preserve the township’s rural character and strengthen its tax base by expanding economic development opportunities.

“Do you believe (the gas and oil ordinance) achieves these goals?” Hnath asked Fodi.

“I do,” Fodi replied.

Upon cross-examination, attorney Jordan Yeager questioned Fodi about an e-mail in June from Rex Energy to the township planning commission requesting an amendment to the zoning ordinance regarding unconventional gas wells.

Yeager said a memo from Fodi to the three township supervisors three days later proposed an oil and gas drilling amendment to the Middlesex zoning ordinance that would regulate wells, compressor stations and gas processing plants.

Rex Energy attorney Kevin Colosimo suggested that Rex only was asking for clarity by asking the township to pass an ordinance.

Fodi also testified that hundreds of property owners were signing leases, yet those who were against the Geyer well came to each monthly supervisors meeting to protest the wells.

Fodi said it was time for an ordinance on unconventional gas drilling operations.

“There was a point where I said ‘We’ve got to get something in writing because I can’t keep doing this every month,’” Fodi said about why he sought the ordinance.

Fodi also discussed several other aspects of the creation of the ordinance before the hearing ended.

More than 100 people attended the meeting, but as the hours passed, the crowd thinned significantly.

Zoning hearing board Chairman George Born adjourned the session just after 10 p.m., and announced the next hearing will be at 4:30 p.m. Monday at the township fire hall on Browns Hill Road.