Data centers and their ancillary facilities are subject to the ordinance's land-development review and approval requirements. In municipalities without their own subdivision and land-development ordinance, plans must be submitted to and approved by the Crawford County Planning Office or Planning Commission before recording or construction, and applicable fees must be paid.

The amendment applies to data-center land-development plans submitted after its effective date. Data centers constructed before that date are exempt, while the treatment of plans submitted but not approved is governed by applicable case law. Material physical modifications that change the size or type of an existing data center or its equipment must comply.

A data-center application must include an impact statement addressing environmental, natural, cultural, and viewshed impacts, along with proposed mitigation and maintenance measures.

A data-center applicant must submit a combined management and decommissioning plan covering owner contacts, facility maintenance, site maintenance, emergency response, and transportation during construction and operations.

The emergency response plan must be prepared by a qualified professional and approved by the Crawford County Department of Public Safety and local emergency-management agency. It must address site-specific hazards, fire-department training and equipment gaps, fire suppression and evacuation capabilities, battery and thermal-runaway risks, arc-flash and electrocution hazards, diesel-fuel storage, and containment of fuel leaks; the developer must pay for identified assistance to close local response gaps.

A transportation plan must identify all roads and bridges used to access the site during construction and operation, describe traffic levels and types, identify bridge weight limits, and document compliance with host-municipality road-bonding requirements.

Data-center structures and facilities must be at least 1,000 feet from existing residences or sensitive receptors and at least 500 feet from a property line.

Data-center structures and facilities must be set back at least 200 feet from the edge of a perennial watercourse or wetland.

A data-center site must have at least a 25-foot-wide access road from a state or township street, and Commercial IBC-compliant fire lanes on all sides of the building for aerial ladders and emergency equipment.

After construction, the developer must conduct a radio-signal-strength study and report it to Crawford County Public Safety. If necessary, the developer must install a compatible BDA or DAS system, repeat the study annually, report the results, and complete required updates within 90 days at the developer's expense.

Outdoor lighting at a data center is prohibited except when required for safety or by a governmental authority, and any permitted lighting must comply with the ordinance's lighting standards.

The applicant must provide an electric-utility interconnection agreement confirming adequate capacity without degrading service to other ratepayers, disclose project-related impacts on electric rates or availability, and document management of localized grid stability for high-load data centers.

The applicant must submit a water-consumption and cooling plan identifying raw-water needs and sources. Public-water users must document that the public authority will provide the required supply; projects using nonpublic water must provide a water-feasibility study.

A data center using nonpublic water cannot be approved unless the feasibility study demonstrates adequate long-term supply and shows that withdrawals and discharges will not adversely affect nearby groundwater or surface water. The study must address wells, water quantities, recycling or discharge, geology, nearby water resources, safe yield, and impacts on surrounding water supplies.

Closed-loop cooling is required, and non-potable water must be prioritized for facility cooling.

The water-consumption and cooling plan must be reviewed and approved by the Crawford County Conservation District.

For projects using nonpublic water, the developer must reimburse the County for engineering tests of water consumption, groundwater quality, and water-table impacts at least every two years. Contaminated or depleted aquifers require immediate remediation.

The applicant must submit a professional-engineer-certified thermal-impact mitigation plan addressing waste-heat reuse or dissipation and measures such as vegetative or green roofs. A thermal-impact study must confirm compliance within six months after operations begin, and problems must be addressed immediately.

In forested areas, existing forest within 50 feet of the property's perimeter must remain standing when trees are removed for the data center, and screening must meet the ordinance's industrial-development standards.

Battery energy-storage systems associated with a data center must comply with the latest published NFPA 855 standards whenever those standards impose requirements beyond or more stringent than the ordinance.

Within six months after an occupancy permit or completion of construction when no permit is required, the operator must complete an as-built impact study covering the ordinance's mitigation requirements. Any nonconforming impact requires immediate mitigation.

The owner must notify the County immediately when data-center operations cease or are abandoned. The facility is presumed abandoned after 12 consecutive months without operations, and the owner must report annually on operational continuity.

Unless adaptively reused, a discontinued or abandoned data center and related structures, equipment, roads, and foundations must be dismantled and removed within 18 months, with the land restored to its pre-application condition and any contamination remediated.

Before final-plan approval, the owner must provide financial security equal to 110% of estimated decommissioning costs and enter into a County decommissioning agreement. The estimate must account for salvage value, and the security estimate must be updated every two years with increases funded within 30 days of County approval.

For structures being adaptively reused, decommissioning security is not required after one year past the anniversary of the new use's occupancy permit, although the County may reduce the security during that period.

The ordinance becomes effective 180 days after enactment, creating a waiting period before its requirements apply.

A data center may include accessory administrative, logistical, fiber-optic, storage, security, electrical, cooling, water, wastewater, and related utility structures on the same tract or unified development, allowing supporting facilities to be developed as part of the data center project.

If a proposed major data center land development is large or complex, the applicant may request a combined preliminary-and-final plan approval. The Planning Commission may allow this at its discretion, provided the application includes all information required for both plan stages and a recordable final plan.

The county must notify applicants of a decision within specified deadlines, generally no later than 90 days after the application is considered filed. If the county fails to render and communicate a decision within the required time, the application is deemed approved unless the applicant agreed in writing to an extension.

The ordinance provides a defined review process, including a preapplication advisory meeting and sketch-plan discussion, allowing prospective data center applicants to exchange information with county planning staff before formally filing an application.

If public sanitary sewer or water service is not reasonably available, a data center may use permitted private sewer or water systems, subject to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and other applicable requirements.

Data centers constructed before the data-center amendment's effective date are not required to meet the new data-center-specific requirements. Existing facilities are also allowed to undergo changes that do not materially alter their size or equipment type without triggering those requirements.

Existing data center structures or accessory structures may be adaptively reused after the data center stops operating, avoiding mandatory removal when the structure is reused for another legally permitted purpose and a certificate of occupancy is issued for the new use.