By Conrad Dudderar
Senior Staff Writer
EL RENO – A Canadian County trust authority is expected to soon complete a $1.25 million land deal for a new county fairgrounds complex.
The Canadian County Public Facilities Authority (PFA), comprised of the three county commissioners, have authorized Chairman Dave Anderson to take steps necessary to close on the purchase of 50 acres owned by the Jensen family at the corner of Alfadale and Jensen Road just south of Interstate 40.
The closing of a real estate purchase contract dated Oct. 16, 2018 has been delayed several times because of issues with a gas well and oilfield equipment on the El Reno site and the need to secure water service.
These issues have been resolved and county PFA attorney Gabe Bass is working with the title company on a closing date for the land deal.
“We don’t have it set yet, but it could be as early as this week,” county PFA Chairman Dave Anderson said.
El Reno and the Banner Water District have both signed an agreement to provide water and fire suppression service for the new fairgrounds’ site, according to Anderson.
County PFA trustees on Monday also approved an agreement with Camino Natural Resources LLC, which has agreed to accelerate the plugging of a well on the future fairgrounds’ property.
“They have removed most of it, if not all,” Chairman Anderson said. “There’s still some above-ground equipment there.”
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has “very little power” to force an operator to plug and abandon a well – particularly a gas well, attorney Bass told trustees.
Camino Natural Resources has been “very accommodating” as they proceed to cap off its well on the site, he added.
“They agreed, on pretty short notice, to put this well on the top of their list to take care of,” Bass said. “We asked them to go a little bit above and beyond the minimum regulatory requirements to actually cap the well deeper than they normally do. So they agreed to do that so that it would be less likely to interfere with any development out there.
“The last time I talked with someone from Camino, they were pretty close to being finished. They have cut off the well bore, cemented the bore hole, removed all the piping, and capped it off. They still had some surface work to do.”
HOLD HARMLESS
As part of the agreement with Camino to accelerate the well plugging, the county will indemnify the operator should any problem occur if the county or its contractor builds on top of the old well bore.
In addition to Camino complying with Oklahoma Corporation Commission rules for plugging an abandoned well, the agreement requires the operator to cap the well six feet below grade and place a surface marker.
“By rule, they only have to go three feet deep,” Bass said. “So they went deeper than they’re required to, to accommodate us.”
Canadian County is buying the Jensen property for $25,000 an acre for the 50 acres, with an option to purchase another 50 acres if more property is needed for further development.
County Commissioners have secured a $10 million loan for the first phase of the fairgrounds project. They plan to appropriate up to 60 percent of county use tax revenues to repay the loan.
