The Colorado oil and gas (O&G) boom often sparks conflict as it encroaches on suburbs. These conflicts lead many communities to use a memorandum of understanding (MOU) as a policy tool to assert local control over development. Although an MOU had already been enacted, conflict arose in Adams County after a large-scale facility was proposed in the Wadley Farms neighbourhood. This study evaluates Adam County's revisions of the MOU process. Our findings indicate that dissimilarities between the dynamic nature of O&G and the static nature of MOUs pose challenges and limit the effectiveness of these agreements.