Data centers are allowed only as conditional uses in the Industrial Zoning District; HDDP facilities are subject to the same requirements. permitted only as a Conditional Use in the Industrial Zoning District

Applicants must provide mailed public-hearing notice to every property owner within 2,500 feet at least one week before the hearing. notice to all property owners with 2,500 feet

Data centers, related equipment, and phased development on contiguous parcels under common ownership or operational control are aggregated as one facility, preventing circumvention by splitting a project into separate parcels or phases. Aggregation and Anti-Circumvention

A new public hearing and conditional-use amendment are required for material modifications, including any increase in approved noise, more than a 10% increase in peak electrical demand, increased water consumption or discharge, new outdoor mechanical equipment, or increased building height or footprint. require a new public hearing

A conditional-use approval expires if a preliminary land-development submission is not filed within 12 months after approval. expire if a Preliminary Land Development submission has not been filed within 12 months

The standard minimum lot area is 10 acres. A 5-acre exception is limited to facilities of no more than 5,000 square feet and 2 MW of peak demand, subject to all other standards. minimum Lot Area

Data centers are limited to a maximum all-inclusive height of 35 feet, including rooftop mechanical equipment; only specified masts and rods may reach 40 feet. Building coverage is capped at 25% and impervious coverage at 50%. maximum height for a Data Center shall be 35 feet

Buildings, cooling equipment, substations, generators, and BESS must be at least 1,250 feet from the property line of any sensitive receptor; an additional setback may be required if the ECEIA shows that 1,250 feet is insufficient. set back a minimum of 1,250 feet

A minimum 1,000-foot setback is required from publicly owned trails, and a minimum 200-foot buffer is required from streams, rivers, wetlands, and other water bodies, subject to larger applicable riparian-buffer requirements. Minimum Setback of 1,000 feet

All utility, grid-interconnection, fiber-optic, and internal distribution lines serving the facility must be underground; overhead utility infrastructure is prohibited. installed entirely underground

Projects must install substantial screening and landscaping, including an 8-foot berm along property lines facing residences or public roads and a double-staggered row of evergreen trees intended to reach 100% opacity within three years. continuous earthen Berm at least 8 feet in height

Exterior lighting is limited to 0.05 footcandles at property lines, must be full cut-off, and generally must be reduced to 25% intensity or motion activation from 11:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.; lighting must also be 2,200K or lower and motion-activated after 10:00 p.m., except for safety needs. shall not exceed 0.05 footcandles

Noise may not exceed preconstruction ambient levels by more than 3 dBA at sensitive-receptor property lines and is subject to absolute caps of 45 dBA daytime, 40 dBA nighttime, and 50 dBA at other property lines. Pure tones, impulsive sound, or low-frequency modulation trigger an additional 5 dBA reduction, and residential property lines have a 60 dBC cap. 45 dBA Leq

Routine generator testing is limited to one hour per generator per month, only from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, with 48 hours' advance notice; testing may exceed the daytime noise cap by no more than 5 dBA. limited to 1 hour per generator per month

No sustained or recurring vibration may be perceptible beyond the property line, and vibration may not exceed the preconstruction baseline by more than 0.001g at a sensitive receptor. Mechanical equipment must use spring-isolated inertia bases with at least two inches of static deflection. shall not be perceptible to the human sense of feeling

Applicants must fund a 30-day baseline noise study, conduct post-construction audits within 30 days of operations and again at six months, submit annual third-party compliance reports, and install real-time property-line noise monitoring for facilities over 10 MW. 30-day baseline ambient noise study

Cooling systems must use closed-loop air-cooled technology or an equivalent zero-net-consumption system; once-through, evaporative, open-loop, and private high-yield-well cooling or humidification are prohibited. An alternative technology exception is limited to no more than 50 gallons per day per installed MW and requires extensive modeling and monitoring. Mandatory Technology

Data centers must submit a comprehensive hydrological impact analysis, obtain a binding public-water will-serve letter and hydraulic study where public water is available, and bear all costs of public-water-system upgrades needed to serve the facility. served exclusively by a public water utility provider

If public water is unavailable, approval requires a hydrogeologist's study demonstrating zero adverse effects on nearby residential or agricultural wells, groundwater, water-table elevation, chemical quality, streams, and the applicable watershed. zero (0) adverse effects

Consumptive water use is capped at 1,500 gallons per day per MW for approved alternative cooling using public water, while total consumptive use generally may not exceed 7,500 gallons per day without express approval based on site-specific modeling. total consumptive use shall not exceed 7,500 gallons per day

Cooling blowdown, de-ionized water, and chemical cleaning liquids may not enter storm sewers, land, or waters of the Commonwealth; discharge to a sanitary sewer requires a pretreatment agreement and DEP permit, while otherwise a zero-liquid-discharge system or licensed hazardous-waste hauler is required. No liquid waste from cooling systems

Applicants must obtain utility interconnection documentation and grid-impact studies, pay for facility-specific grid upgrades, and may not use backup generators for peak shaving, grid support, load shedding, or energy-market participation. Operation for peak shaving

At least 50% of annual electricity consumption must come from qualifying renewable sources, with documentation required before the certificate of occupancy and verified reporting after the first year; noncompliance may require escalation to 75%. at least 50% of the facility's annual electrical consumption

Riparian buffers must be at least 100 feet for intermittent streams, ponds, lakes, and wetlands; 150 feet for perennial streams; and 200 feet for exceptional-value or high-quality waters. Buildings, impervious surfaces, most utilities, generators, fuel storage, and hazardous-material storage are prohibited within the buffers. maintained in a permanently vegetated, undisturbed state

Applications must include a comprehensive ECEIA prepared by specified licensed professionals, covering operations, traffic, environmental and historic resources, hazardous materials, emergency services, school-district fiscal effects, property values, and cumulative impacts within five miles. comprehensive Environmental, Community, and Economic Impact Analysis

Conditional-use approval requires substantial evidence that every objective standard is met, no adverse effects remain, utility capacity is secured without reducing service to existing customers, mitigation is enforceable, and local emergency providers can serve the facility without Township-funded equipment or personnel. fully complies with every objective performance standard

Applicants must fund specialized first-responder training and provide financial contributions for equipment identified as necessary by the emergency-response gap analysis; BESS installations must comply with NFPA 855 and include specialized suppression, off-gas detection, and explosion-control systems. funding specialized training

The applicant must contribute to a Public Safety and Infrastructure Mitigation Fund, initially depositing $25,000 per MW; the final contribution is generally capped at $50,000 per MW unless supported by written findings and substantial evidence. initial deposit of $25,000 per MW

Before a building permit, the applicant must post financial security equal to 150% of the estimated gross cost of demolition, equipment removal, site restoration, and soil or groundwater remediation; the security is reviewed every five years and the estimate is updated annually. equal to 150% of the estimated gross cost

A facility is deemed abandoned after 12 consecutive months without operations consistent with its certificate of occupancy, allowing the Township to use the decommissioning security for restoration; removal or deactivation of more than 50% of computing capacity triggers review. Twelve (12) consecutive months without operations

During a grid emergency, peak-demand event, or voltage reduction, a data center must automatically reduce electricity use to no more than 10% of nameplate capacity within 15 minutes under a load-shedding agreement. not to exceed 10% of nameplate capacity

Applicants must establish an administrative escrow for Township consultant and legal-review costs, initially $25,000 for facilities under 5 MW and $50,000 for facilities of 5 MW or more; review and hearings are stayed if the balance falls below 25% of the initial deposit. A $25,000 long-term monitoring escrow is required after occupancy. initial Administrative Escrow deposit

Verified operational violations trigger mandatory correction and curtailment: load or operational reductions within two hours, at least a 50% capacity reduction if compliance is not achieved within four hours, and continued curtailment or cessation after 24 hours of noncompliance or three adjudicated violations within 24 months. at least fifty percent

Violations may result in civil penalties of up to $500 per violation, with each day of continuing violation treated separately; the owner must also reimburse Township enforcement, consultant, attorney, and court costs. Civil Penalties

The Township may inspect facilities during reasonable hours, conduct immediate inspections for imminent threats or verified active noise or vibration complaints, and issue cease-and-desist orders or suspend noncompliant equipment after specified cure periods of up to 15 days for noise or vibration and 48 hours for environmental or safety hazards. reasonable opportunity to cure

The Township adopted a resolution declaring the existing zoning ordinance substantively invalid in part as it relates to data centers and energy-generation systems and directing preparation of a curative amendment under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code. declares by formal action that the Zoning Ordinance is substantively invalid in part

Data centers are permitted as a conditional use in the Industrial Zoning District, rather than being prohibited township-wide. Approval remains subject to the ordinance’s performance standards and required studies.

The Board may approve equivalent or superior technologies when the applicant provides substantial evidence that they meet or exceed the ordinance’s performance standards, allowing applicants to use alternatives to specifically identified technologies.

Data centers below 5 MW receive reduced administrative requirements: a $10,000 initial administrative escrow, a mitigation-fund deposit of $15,000 per MW subject to a $30,000-per-MW maximum, potentially reduced decommissioning security of 125%, and an ECEIA review target of 60 days plus one 30-day extension.

Data centers below 5 MW may receive a streamlined Environmental, Community, and Economic Impact Analysis. Upon substantial evidence of no material risk, the Board may waive or condense studies such as a full grid-impact analysis, property-value analysis, or broader cumulative-impact modeling. Denial of streamlined treatment alone cannot justify denying the conditional-use application.

Routine maintenance, in-kind equipment replacement, and internal software or logic upgrades that do not increase external impacts are not treated as material modifications requiring a new conditional-use hearing. They require only permitting to verify continued compliance.

Modifications that reduce external impacts, such as quieter replacement equipment or reduced water use, require only zoning-permit verification rather than an amendment to the conditional-use approval.

For colocation facilities, tenant turnover, equipment changes, and rack reconfigurations are not material modifications when they do not increase noise, water use, electrical demand, or thermal emissions at or within the property line. The owner must notify the Zoning Officer only when a tenant change increases aggregate power consumption by more than 5% of approved capacity.

The Public Safety and Infrastructure Mitigation Fund is generally capped at $50,000 per installed MW, unless the Board makes written findings supported by substantial evidence that higher site-specific costs are justified. Applicant-provided training, contributions, or equipment donations may also reduce the required contribution.

Renewable-energy compliance may be satisfied through off-site generation in the PJM region with retired renewable-energy certificates or through power-purchase agreements, rather than requiring all renewable generation to be located on the data-center site.

Backup generators may operate during bona fide unplanned utility outages, for testing and maintenance up to one hour per generator per month, or when operation is expressly required by a federal or state equipment mandate. Routine testing is allowed from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays, subject to the ordinance’s noise limits and notice requirements.

Load-shedding requirements may be waived during a declared state or federal emergency when the facility provides certified critical services, such as emergency communications or disaster-response coordination.

When a violation occurs, enforcement generally provides an opportunity to cure: up to 15 days for noise or vibration violations and 48 hours for environmental or safety hazards. Any operational shutdown is to be limited to the noncompliant equipment or subsystem unless the violation is facility-wide or poses an unmitigated community threat.

A facility that exceeds an operational performance standard is given a staged response before broader cessation: operational reduction within two hours, at least 50% curtailment or another lower threshold after four hours if compliance is not restored, and cessation of affected systems after 24 hours of continued noncompliance or repeated adjudicated violations.