Millbrook (NW Arl) residents get new lease offers

Northwest Arlington's Millbrook neighborhood is getting a fresh round of lease offers, which puzzles the neighborhood, because Chesapeake Energy put on a major push six months ago to sign leases in Millbrook, Interlochen, Lochen Green, and Waterway Park neighborhoods.

"It was my understanding that well over half the (800) houses they tried to reach signed leases with them," said Don Gwynne, president of the Millbrook Home Owners Association.

That offer, from Continental Resources on behalf of Chesapeake, called for a signing bonus of $5,500 per acre, 24 percent royalty, and three-year term.

The new offer, which homeowners have been receiving for the last few weeks is from Axia Land Services, an affiliate of Western Production Co. The drilling company isn't identified, but Axia has been signing leases in the area on behalf of Chesapeake.

The financial terms: $5,000-per-acre signing bonus, 25 percent royalty, 3-year term, with no surface access allowed.

The potential drill site also is not identified in the lease packet, and Gwynne isn't clear on where the drill site is. The idea of drilling in the northwest Arlington neighborhoods has been controversial.

One proposed Chesapeake site was next to an electric substation outside Waterway Park, but the Waterway Park association resisted that. Gwynne said another potential Chesapeake site the neighborhood learned of through landmen was west of Eastchase Parkway about a mile south of I-30.

-- Scott