Upper Macungie Township is looking to update its zoning ordinance to include regulations for data centers. The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s Comprehensive Planning Committee plans to review it as part of its virtual meeting at noon Tuesday.
The review is coming as plans recently were submitted to the LVPC and the township for a 2.6 million-square-foot data center to be built on Air Products’ former headquarters site between Hamilton Boulevard and Cetronia Road.
The proposal amends Upper Macungie’s zoning ordinance by adding definitions, amending the use table, and adding requirements to provide for and regulate data center land uses including setbacks and buffers, noise, utility and emergency requirements.
“The township’s proposed ordinance both aligns with best practices and contains opportunities to further support public health, safety and welfare,” LVPC Community Fellow Mary Grace Collins and Chief Community and Regional Planner Jillian Seitz wrote in a draft letter to township Director of Community Development Meredith Keller.
The letter said part of the proposed ordinance aligns with “best practices for regulating data centers,” including distinguishing between data centers and data center equipment; clear definitions for land development; requirements for a 200-foot buffer from property lines; and provisions for utility feasibility assessments and agreements to mitigate system constraints.
It also permits data centers as conditional use to allow the township to evaluate project impacts on a case-by-case basis.
The LVPC offered additional recommendations, including strengthening regulations to promote public health, safety and welfare; explicitly stating the township’s noise ordinance; havinh clear height limitations for the buildings; and providing provisions to include on-site power generation, such as fuel-cell power stations, and other alternative energy options.
If the letter is approved by the committee, it will be taken up by the full LVPC on Thursday.
Other Lehigh Valley communities also have taken or are taking steps to regulate data centers. South Whitehall, Palmer and Upper Mount Bethel townships have either proposed or adopted such rules.
