OXFORD – Saturday morning, during a Village of Oxford Special Planning Board meeting, the board conducted a legal review of a proposed amendment to the village zoning ordinance in regard to natural gas drilling with pro-bono consulting attorney David Slottje. During the meeting, Slottje was asked to strip the proposed amendment of any clauses which could be construed as anything other than a clarification or conformation of the present zoning ordinance’s contents. During another special planning board meeting held Wednesday night, members voted to hand the amendment back to the village trustees with their approval.

Later last night, during a village board meeting attended by three people, trustees voted four to one in favor of passing the amendment on to the Chenango County Planning Board for their own separate review.

The board also listened to a letter from attorney Robert Wedlake addressed to Village of Oxford Attorney Roger Monaco. In the letter, Wedlake indicated that although Dennis Holbrook from Norse Energy is responsive to the formulation of a written document in regard to Norse Energy’s gas development in the area of the Village of Oxford, he is currently tied up with Norse Energy’s recent filing for bankruptcy. In the letter, Wedlake on behalf of his clients, also asked that the village board to give Norse Energy more time and hold off any vote on the moratorium.