OXFORD – The Village of Oxford board believes its proposed moratorium on natural gas drilling, which is now in the 60-day comment period, would hold up in court because it follows a different set of criteria than did the city of Binghamton’s ordinance that was recently invalidated.

Mayor Terry Stark described the differences between the two moratoriums to a crowd of about 120 at a public hearing of the draft ordinance Tuesday night at the Oxford American Legion. Trustees agreed by a super majority to pass a nine-month moratorium on Oct. 15. Since then, it has made its way to the Chenango County Planning Board where it was approved, but with concerns, mostly based on the lawsuit filed and won by property and business owners in Binghamton.