OXFORD – Saturday morning, during a Village of Oxford Special Planning Board meeting, members listened to a detailed explanation from pro-bono consulting attorney David Slottje of a drafted amendment to the village’s 1970 zoning ordinance. About 17 people attended the meeting held in the village hall. The drafted amendment is intended to clarify and confirm what is already in the existing zoning ordinances, explained Slottje. The amendment passed in the hands of the planning board after the village trustees voted to turn it over for their consideration last Wednesday.

“The amendment is not meant to be a change, it is just meant to confirm the Landowners Coalition’s analysis of what is already in the zoning ordinance,” said Slottje. On Dec. 11, the village board tabled a nine-month moratorium on shale-gas drilling, after representatives of the Central New York Landowners Coalition  threatened legal action should they enact it. The CNYLC claimed a moratorium would be illegal as there was no public purpose for it.