Pipeline valve station: The Fort Worth City Council voted 5-3 for a proposal to allow a pipeline valve station at the entrance to Marion Sansom Park on Lake Worth at the intersection of two pipeline easements through the park.

The city Parks Advisory Board had deadlocked 4-4 on the proposal. Representatives from the Fort Worth Mountain Bike Association, the League of Women Voters and the Lake Worth Alliance argued against the valve station Tuesday, saying it would set a precedent for other parks.

City staffers said Tuesday that there is a valve station at the Fort Worth Nature Center, and other parks have transformers or other utility boxes.

Barnett Gathering, the pipeline subsidiary for XTO Energy, agreed to reduce the size of the valve station from 40-by-40 feet to 20-by-20. Alternative routes were impractical or would require the pipelines to be trenched instead of bored, spokesman Walter DueEase said.

"The fact is, there’s a lot of surface use of parkland by utilities," said Councilman Carter Burdette, who represents the area. "This is not any kind of precedent in that sense."

Burdette was joined by Mayor Mike Moncrief and Councilmen Danny Scarth, Sal Espino and Frank Moss. Council members Kathleen Hicks, Joel Burns and Jungus Jordan voted against the valve station.

Staff change: Assistant City Manager Joe Paniagua will retire at the end of the year after 23 years. Paniagua won’t be replaced, so his duties will be divided among the remaining assistant city managers, City Manager Dale Fisseler told council members.

Gas pipelines: Council members delayed a vote on a pipeline through a neighborhood near Texas Christian University. The pipeline, to be built by Chesapeake Energy’s pipeline division, has been planned to serve a well on the TCU campus, but the well hasn’t received a permit yet.

High-impact gas wells: The council approved two permits for gas wells close to homes. One well, at 293 Bonds Ranch Road, will be 263 feet from the nearest house and will affect 11 houses. Burdette said XTO Energy has obtained waivers from 10 of the 11 houses, and the other house is in foreclosure. The second site, in the 3800 block of Hemphill Street, will be about 395 feet from some apartments and is within 600 feet of more than 60 homes and other protected buildings. XTO has obtained waivers from all but four of the property owners, a company spokesman said, and the president of the nearby Worth Heights Neighborhood Association spoke in favor of the site. — Mike Lee