Limerick Township
Neutral Data Center Policies
Limerick Township allows data centers by conditional approval in a limited area, with buildings up to 120 feet and no floor-area cap. Projects must meet noise, home-setback, and emergency-access conditions.
current law · Limerick TownshipRegulates data centers in Limerick Township’s zoning code through conditional use in the LLI District’s data-center overlay, subject to location, public water and sewer, direct arterial or collector access, and a second emergency access route.Pennsylvania Ordinance 431 (2024)
What this means
The measure modestly expands development options by allowing data centers through conditional use in a limited area and allowing taller buildings with no floor-area cap (120-foot height and no floor-area ratio limit). But projects face meaningful conditions, including sound studies and noise limits, large setbacks from homes, and emergency-access requirements (data center sound standards).
People behind it
- Limerick Township Board of Supervisors
Proposed, enacted, and adopted Ordinance No. 431 amending the Township zoning code.
- Kara Shuler
Chair of the Limerick Township Board of Supervisors who signed Ordinance No. 431 on behalf of the Board.
- Daniel K. Kerr
Limerick Township Manager who attested to Ordinance No. 431.
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- Limerick Township Planning & Zoning Department
Administers the Township zoning ordinance, including the data-center zoning provisions established by Ordinance No. 431.
Restrictions & requirementsHide restrictions & requirements19
In the LLI Limited Light Industrial District, data centers are allowed only through conditional-use approval rather than by right.
An LLI data-center overlay is available only when at least part of the tract is within three-quarters of a mile (3,960 feet) of the physical center of the Evergreen Road and Lightcap Road intersection.
Conditional-use applicants must submit plans and studies demonstrating compliance with the data-center standards and the requirements referenced in Sections 184-43, 184-76.7, 184-84, and 184-195.
Data centers must provide public central water and sewer service; if existing public capacity is insufficient, the applicant must demonstrate compliance with Section 184-55 to augment those facilities.
The tract or unified assemblage must have direct access to an arterial or collector street.
A data-center proposal must provide an adequate second means of ingress and egress suitable for emergency access.
Up to 100% of woodland may be cleared or developed only if the first 50% is treated as permitted clearing and the total tree caliper removed from woodland beyond that 50% is replaced with trees planted on the tract or unified assemblage.
LLI data centers must generally follow the HI Heavy Industrial District Class One dimensional standards, including a maximum building height of 120 feet for a building housing a data center.
For LLI data centers, buildings must be set back at least 50 feet or the building height, whichever is greater, from an ultimate right-of-way and at least 30 feet or the building height, whichever is greater, from other lot lines; parking, loading, and driveways must be set back 30 feet from an ultimate right-of-way and 15 feet from other lot lines.
For LLI data centers, building and loading, truck-parking, and truck-idling areas must generally be set back 400 feet from a residential district or existing occupied residential use; a 200-foot alternative is allowed only if the required sound studies demonstrate compliance with the applicable sound limits or sound-reduction systems achieve those limits.
Data Center Equipment that is not muffled and exceeds the permitted noise level must not be located between the data-center building and an arterial or collector street, and it must be separated from adjacent residential uses by a principal building.
Data Center Accessory Uses must comply with the height limits in Section 184-64 and the principal-building setback standards.
Data centers and associated Data Center Equipment must meet maximum sound levels of 67 dB(A) during daytime periods and 57 dB(A) during nighttime and weekend periods, measured at the data-center property line; the limits do not apply during a power outage, but the required study must report anticipated levels when all equipment is operating.
Data-center applicants must obtain a preliminary professional acoustical sound study during the conditional-use process, an interim sound study during building-permit review, and an as-built sound study six months after the certificate of occupancy and before final escrow release for a land-development phase.
Sound-reduction materials or systems recommended by the interim study must be incorporated into the construction plans, and any violation identified by an as-built or later Township-requested study must be promptly remediated.
Wireless telecommunications facilities used as accessories to a data center must comply with the separate requirements of Article XXXIV.
Within the Logistics Center/Warehouse Conditional Use Overlay District, a building housing a data center is limited to a maximum height of 120 feet, while other buildings remain subject to the 60-foot maximum.
Within the Logistics Center/Warehouse Conditional Use Overlay District, data-center buildings and parking and loading areas must generally be set back 400 feet from existing residential uses, with a 200-foot alternative available only upon the required sound-study demonstration or installation of sound-reduction systems achieving the specified limits.
Within the Logistics Center/Warehouse Conditional Use Overlay District, a data-center proposal must demonstrate an adequate second means of ingress and egress suitable for emergency access.
Benefits & exceptionsHide benefits & exceptions12
Data centers may be approved by conditional use in the LLI Limited Light Industrial District through a Data Center Overlay, rather than being prohibited there, if at least part of the tract is within 3,960 feet of the Evergreen Road and Lightcap Road intersection and the required plans and studies are submitted. Data Center Overlay may be permitted
The LLI data-center standards allow a maximum building height of 120 feet for a building housing a data center. Maximum building height ... shall be 120 feet
The maximum floor-area-ratio limit does not apply to data centers developed under the LLI data-center standards, allowing more floor area relative to the tract than the ordinary limit would permit. Maximum floor area ratio standard is not applicable
Up to 100% of the woodlands on a qualifying data-center tract may be cleared or developed. The first 50% may be cleared, while woodland disturbed beyond that amount must be replaced based on total tree caliper, with replacement trees planted on the tract and potentially counted toward landscaping requirements. up to one hundred percent of the woodlands is permitted to be cleared or developed
Adjacent parcels divided by a public road or land owned by a public utility may be treated as contiguous when commonly owned or developed as a unified development, allowing those parcels to be combined for area and land-mass calculations. deemed to be contiguous
Data-center tracts must receive public central water and sewer service, but if existing public capacity is insufficient, the applicant may augment that infrastructure under the Township's capacity-augmentation rules. If existing public capacity is insufficient
The required building setback from a residential district or existing occupied residential use may be reduced from 400 feet to 200 feet if the required sound studies demonstrate compliance with the applicable noise limits or show that sound-reduction systems effectively achieve those limits. setbacks are permitted to be 200 feet
In the Logistics Center/Warehouse Conditional Use Overlay District, a building housing a data center may be up to 120 feet high instead of the ordinary 60-foot maximum. Maximum building height for a building housing a Data Center shall be 120 feet
The maximum floor-area-ratio standard does not apply to data centers in the Logistics Center/Warehouse Conditional Use Overlay District. Maximum floor area ratio standard is not applicable
The ordinance establishes data-center noise limits of 67 dB(A) during daytime periods and 57 dB(A) during nighttime and weekend periods, measured at the data-center property line, and expressly exempts the limits during a power outage if the sound study evaluates and reports expected levels with all data-center equipment operating. maximum daytime
Data-center equipment and accessory uses may include utilities, electrical substations, pump stations, water towers, cooling and other environmental-control equipment, backup power, redundant communications, and security facilities when located on the same tract or unified assemblage as the data center. Data Center Accessory Uses generally include utilities
The ordinance requires a second means of ingress and egress suitable for emergency access, providing a defined access standard for approval of the site. adequate second means of ingress and egress
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