Land-development approval is mandatory for a new data center unless it is specifically exempt; site plans must comply with Section 613 and other applicable ordinance requirements.

Material modifications to an existing data center or accessory use require land-development approval; routine maintenance and like-kind replacements are exempt.

Data centers are limited to a maximum height of 60 feet, including roof-mounted equipment. Height may reach 80 feet only with an additional setback of one foot for every foot above 60 feet.

Data center accessory uses may not exceed 1.5 times the height of the principal building.

Data centers and accessory uses must maintain a 500-foot setback from residential lot lines and properties containing sensitive receptors.

Where adjoining industrial, commercial, or institutional property, facilities must maintain minimum front and rear setbacks of 40 feet and side setbacks of 10 feet.

Data centers and accessory uses may not exceed 70% lot coverage, with parking-lot impervious surfaces included in that limit.

A landscape buffer at least 20 feet wide is required along adjoining residential lots, sensitive receptors, and public roadways, with specified native tree and shrub planting densities. Existing vegetation may substitute only if determined adequate by the municipality's engineer and planning commission.

Cooling, ventilation, power-generation, and other operating equipment within 40 feet of a public roadway or 60 feet of a residential or sensitive-receptor lot line must be fully enclosed or screened, unless full enclosure is not mechanically feasible.

Applicants must fund third-party noise and vibration studies at the preliminary, interim, and as-built stages and at least every three years.

Normal operations are subject to maximum sustained noise limits of 55 dB(A) and 65 dB(C) during weekdays and 50 dB(A) and 60 dB(C) at night and on weekends, including at residential and sensitive-receptor boundaries. Vibration may not be perceptible beyond the property line.

Applicants must document stormwater, groundwater-recharge, runoff, erosion, sedimentation, and required NPDES and related permits.

Public-water users must submit certification that the water authority has capacity; projects using nonpublic water must provide a professional water-feasibility study. Approval is barred unless the study shows adequate yield and no adverse effect on nearby groundwater or surface water.

Projects exceeding specified water-use thresholds must obtain Pennsylvania DEP registration or permit approval, including withdrawals of at least 10,000 gallons per day in a 30-day period and certain Great Lakes diversions or consumptive uses.

Applicants must demonstrate that adequate wastewater disposal has been provided and approved for domestic, cooling, and industrial wastewater.

A certified professional engineer must prepare a Thermal Impact Mitigation Plan, addressing waste heat, off-site impacts, mitigation, and feasible waste-heat reuse.

Grid-connected projects must provide an electric-provider interconnection agreement certifying available capacity. Energy-generation systems used during normal operations are treated as separate uses requiring separate permits.

Diesel backup generators must meet EPA Tier 4 emission standards, undergo annual testing, and be used only for outages or limited maintenance testing capped at 100 hours per year. Peak shaving and supplying power to the grid are prohibited.

Applicants must submit an emergency-response plan accepted by local fire and emergency services, provide annual fire-safety inspections, and, for battery storage, demonstrate compliance with NFPA 855.

Building façades facing roads or existing residential uses must include at least two specified design elements every 150 horizontal feet.

Data centers must provide parking at a ratio of one space per 8,000 square feet or one space per employee, whichever is lesser.

Owners must submit a construction transportation plan, repair road damage at their expense, and provide financial assurance; municipalities or the County may require road bonding.

Applicants must submit a decommissioning plan, begin decommissioning within one year after discontinuation or abandonment, complete it within 18 months unless extended, restore the site, and provide financial security equal to 110% of estimated decommissioning costs. The security estimate must be updated every five years, with the owner paying municipal review costs.

Existing data centers and accessory uses constructed before the ordinance’s effective date are generally exempt from the new requirements. Routine maintenance and like-kind replacements do not require new land-development approval; material expansions or alterations remain subject to the ordinance. Routine maintenance or like-kind replacements shall not require a new land development approval.

The ordinance allows numerous facilities to be developed as data-center accessory uses on the same tract or unified adjacent parcels, including temporary generators, substations, utility lines, cooling systems, water facilities, wastewater treatment, storage, security, and administrative structures. Ancillary uses or structures secondary and incidental to a Data Center use.

A data center may be up to 60 feet high, including roof-mounted equipment, and may reach 80 feet if it provides an additional one-foot setback for each foot above 60 feet. Accessory structures may reach 1.5 times the principal building’s height. This may be increased to 80 feet.

Data centers and accessory uses may cover up to 70% of a lot, providing a substantial maximum development footprint. The Data Center and Data Center Accessory Use shall not have a lot coverage exceeding 70%.

Existing vegetation and topography may satisfy all or part of the required landscape buffer when they adequately screen the facility, potentially reducing new planting and site-development costs. existing topography and/or vegetation constitutes all or part of the required buffer yard.

Parking is capped at the lesser of one space per 8,000 square feet of employee-accessible floor area or one space per employee on the largest shift, limiting required parking for facilities with relatively few employees. whichever is lesser.

Energy-generation systems supplying a data center during normal operations may be permitted as a separate use rather than being regulated as part of the data center use, creating a separate permitting pathway for on-site solar, wind, battery, fossil-fuel, or nuclear systems. The systems still require separate approval and must comply with applicable zoning and state and federal rules. Such systems shall be considered a separate use.

Emergency fossil-fuel generation is expressly allowed during primary-power outages and for maintenance or readiness testing, with testing capped at 100 hours per year and limited to 9 a.m. through 3 p.m. on weekdays. Emergency energy generation.

The ordinance’s maximum noise limits do not apply during power outages, although required sound studies must report anticipated noise when emergency generators are operating. Maximum decibel levels specified herein shall not apply during times of power outage.