Data centers, data center campuses, and related accessory uses are permitted by right only in the designated Data Center Overlay District, which covers approximately 462.32 acres on 15 identified parcels.

Land-development plan review by the Planning Commission and approval by the Board of Supervisors are required whenever required by the Township's subdivision and land-development ordinance or the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.

A data center campus that qualifies as land development must submit a master plan covering the full site, and major modifications to the approved plan require Planning Commission review and Board of Supervisors approval.

Multiple data centers developed cumulatively, located within 500 feet of an existing data center, or located on parcels under common ownership may be treated as a single data center campus and become subject to campus master-plan requirements.

Data centers are subject to dimensional limits, including generally 70% maximum lot coverage, a minimum three-acre lot area, minimum lot widths, a 100-foot building setback, a 50-foot rear yard, and a 100-foot total side yard with at least 50 feet on one side.

Building height is generally limited to 35 feet and may be increased to 60 feet only if the area above 35 feet is not regularly occupied, public water is available, required airport and FAA approvals are obtained, and the Board of Supervisors approves the modification. Data centers and associated buildings may not exceed 60 feet.

Applicants must submit a sound assessment prepared by a qualified professional acoustic engineer and demonstrate compliance with Township noise standards. A baseline study is required before operations, and post-construction testing may require sound-attenuation measures until permissible noise levels are achieved.

Data center parking may not be located within 50 feet of a property line adjoining a residential district or residential use, and each data center must provide at least one off-street loading space or dock.

Data centers must use public water and sanitary sewer utilities and provide a utility will-serve letter or certified engineering assessment showing sufficient current and future capacity. If capacity is insufficient, the applicant must pay for required system improvements; on-site utility methods may be considered only if the Township Engineer and public utility provider determine the improvements are infeasible.

Projects requiring Delaware River Basin Commission review or permits must obtain approval for applicable groundwater or surface-water withdrawals and water imports or exports before required Township approval.

When public water is available, a data center may not use private groundwater wells or direct surface-water withdrawals as its primary cooling-water source.

Data centers must use closed-loop cooling systems unless the Township Engineer accepts an alternative system demonstrated to use less water and energy.

Use of nonpublic water sources requires a qualified professional water-feasibility study addressing projected demand, nearby wells and surface waters, safe yield, water-quality impacts, recycling or treatment, and related technical information, as well as a drought-response plan.

Utility lines serving data centers, including electronic, fiber-optic, cable, and telephone lines, must be installed underground where practical unless the utility company requires above-ground placement or underground installation is infeasible.

Projects must provide a second means of emergency ingress and egress and obtain written Fire Marshal approval addressing emergency access, truck turning, fire suppression, and on-site hydrant availability.

Outdoor lighting fixtures for data centers and campuses may not exceed 30 feet in height and must comply with Township lighting regulations.

Data center development must comply with specified air-pollution, hazardous-emission, visible-emission, dust, odor, vibration, glare, and heat-control requirements.

Electrical service lines and substations must meet applicable safety requirements and must be integrated into architectural features or concealed when visible from adjoining residential properties.

Diesel generators must meet EPA Tier 4 emission standards, undergo annual testing, and have testing reports submitted to the municipality.

Emergency fossil-fuel generation may be used only for emergency outages, routine maintenance, or readiness testing. Testing is capped at 100 hours per year, routine testing is limited to 9:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and peak shaving or supplying power to the grid is prohibited.

Applicants must document efforts to maximize renewable or clean energy and improve server, cooling, and building efficiency, cover 50% to 80% of unused roof space with solar arrays, explore battery storage for 50% to 100% of on-site backup needs, support off-site renewable generation, and monitor and report energy-efficiency and emissions data.

Projects interconnecting with the electric grid must document the utility application and fee, transmission security agreement, required signatures, and the utility's proposed energization date.

A professional-engineer-certified Energy Usage Plan is required and is subject to Township review, including possible supplemental or amended plan requirements before land-development or zoning approval.

Construction and heavy-machinery operation for a data center campus are generally limited to 7:00 a.m. through 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Additional hours require an administrative modification unless all noise-affected land is developed or zoned Industrial/Commercial or Industrial.

On-site energy generation, including substations, solar facilities, and fuel-cell power stations, requires Township approval and an approved safety plan. The owner must recertify the plan annually and permit annual Fire Marshal inspections.

Before a building permit is issued, applicants must submit copies of applicable third-party permits, which may include highway-occupancy, NPDES, and erosion-and-sedimentation-control permits.

Before terminating a data center use, the owner must submit a qualified professional's decommissioning plan covering shutdown, equipment removal, disposal or recycling, and site restoration.

Decommissioning must begin within one year after operations cease or abandonment is noticed, may receive only a one-year extension for active marketing of the site, and generally must be completed within 18 months after it begins unless the Board of Supervisors grants an extension for good cause.

Decommissioning requires removal of all above-ground structures, equipment, and accessory facilities; lawful disposal of hazardous materials; soil stabilization and revegetation; safe utility disconnection and capping; and restoration compatible with surrounding uses.

Phased campus development remains subject to the approved campus master plan and applicable land-development requirements.

The ordinance creates a Data Center Overlay (DCO) on approximately 462.32 acres across 15 parcels that were previously zoned Industrial/Commercial, allowing data centers to be developed in that designated area.

Data centers, data center accessory uses and structures, and data center campuses are permitted by right in the DCO, rather than requiring conditional-use approval.

The DCO retains all uses already permitted in the underlying Industrial/Commercial district, so adding the overlay does not eliminate existing development options.

The definition of data center expressly includes cryptocurrency mining, blockchain transaction processing, and server farms, allowing those activities to qualify as data center uses.

A broad range of supporting facilities may be developed by right as data center accessory uses, including utilities, utility lines, substations, cooling and wastewater facilities, water-holding facilities, pump stations, water towers, security buildings, fiber-optic infrastructure, and environmental-control equipment.

Data center equipment and unoccupied accessory structures supporting a data center or campus are permitted by right and are not subject to the 25-foot minimum separation between buildings.

A data center campus may include multiple data centers developed initially or cumulatively, including related centers within 500 feet of an existing center or centers developed on parcels under common ownership.

Data center campuses may be developed in one or more phases, allowing construction and expansion to occur incrementally.

The ordinance establishes a campus master-plan process similar to a preliminary plan for a phased land development, and treats specified changes as minor modifications, including accessory-equipment relocations, utility-route adjustments, internal-road changes, and building-area increases of up to 5%.

Major Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors review is expressly required for modifications outside the listed minor-modification categories, allowing qualifying minor changes to proceed without that major-modification process.

Land-development-plan review and Board approval are required only when required by the Township's Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance or the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.

The DCO establishes a 70% maximum lot coverage and generally permits 35-foot buildings, while allowing conditional extension of building height to 60 feet when the building has no regular human occupancy above 35 feet, has public water, receives required airport and FAA approvals, and obtains Board approval.

Data centers may be up to 60 feet high, and rooftop projections such as elevator towers, heating or cooling units, parapets, and other roof protrusions are excluded from the height calculation.

The required public-water and public-sewer review allows the applicant to fund necessary system improvements, and permits on-site utility methods to be considered if the Township engineer and utility provider determine the required public-system improvements are infeasible.

Utility lines from off-site to substations may be placed above ground, and lines from substations to a data center need to be underground only to the extent practical, or unless underground placement is infeasible or the utility company requires above-ground lines.

Emergency fossil-fuel generation is allowed during emergency outages and routine maintenance or readiness testing, with testing capped at 100 hours per year and scheduled between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays.

Construction and heavy-equipment operations for a data center campus may occur at any time when all land receiving the construction noise is developed or zoned Industrial/Commercial or Industrial; otherwise, construction is generally limited to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday, subject to possible administrative modification.

The ordinance allows data center development to use public water and sewer capacity assessments or utility-provider will-serve letters to demonstrate service availability, including capacity for projected future expansion.