Data centers are restricted to areas allowed by township zoning, including designated parcels in the Highridge Data Center Overlay. In I-1 zones they generally require a Special Exception; within the overlay, facilities using air or closed-loop cooling are allowed by right. They may not be placed on parcels adjoining residential districts.

Before construction, data center plans must complete the township land-development process, including Planning Commission review and Board of Supervisors approval.

Applicants must provide buffer yards and screening, including berms, and submit traffic studies. Entrances must connect to arterial streets designed for heavy traffic.

Parking and loading areas must be paved, and the number of parking spaces must be at least twice the number of employees on the busiest shift.

Facilities must provide fire lanes, train local emergency responders, and prevent trucks and employee vehicles from blocking public roads.

Security fencing must be solid, no more than 12 feet high, and may not be barbed wire or chain-link.

Applicants must conduct sound studies before and after construction and provide on-site sound monitoring. Reported noise limits differ: one account gives a 65 dBA property-line maximum, reduced from 75 dBA; another gives 75 decibels during daytime and 57 at night and on weekends, including for occasional emergency-equipment testing.

Applicants must show that the township has sufficient electrical capacity and that sound and environmental impacts will remain within safe levels. They must also explain how they will manage dust, stormwater, and solid waste.

Projects using water-based cooling must study water needs, source reliability, and effects on wells, streams, and groundwater, supported by maps, geological reports, and groundwater analysis; they must also explain water recycling or disposal. Projects using other cooling systems must demonstrate an alternative that will not strain local resources, and some accounts specify water studies and geological mapping before approval.

During land development, developers must pursue good-faith negotiations toward a Community Benefits Agreement, but they are not required to finalize one.

Ordinance 2025-3 rezones a little over 72 acres near I-81 and Gordon Mountain Road from Woodland Conservation to the Interchange (I-1) District, making the land available for commercial and industrial development.

Ordinance 2025-3 establishes a Data Center Overlay on designated Highridge parcels in the township.

Ordinance 2025-4 allows data centers in I-1 zones by special exception, but bars them on parcels adjoining residential districts. In the overlay, data centers using air or closed-loop water cooling are permitted by right if they meet the ordinance’s other requirements.

Ordinance 2026-2 expands the existing overlay to additional Highridge property, allowing data center proposals on those parcels to proceed subject to later approvals.