Data centers are allowed only in the Industrial (I) District and require Special Exception approval by the Zoning Hearing Board; they are not permitted by right.

A Special Exception application must include detailed operational and phasing information, a full site plan, utility, water and cooling documentation, sustainability measures, emergency-response materials, decommissioning information, recycling and hazardous-materials plans, and other information requested by the County.

Applicants must submit a land-development plan identifying the data-center campus, backup-power generation and related infrastructure.

Applicants must provide pre-construction noise, predictive noise-modeling and vibration studies prepared by qualified professionals, covering normal, maximum foreseeable, emergency and generator-testing conditions.

Applicants are responsible for allowable professional review costs associated with required studies and application review.

Data-center buildings, major accessory uses, generator yards, cooling equipment, battery systems and substations generally must be at least 500 feet from residential uses, Sensitive Receptors and residential zoning boundaries; the Zoning Hearing Board may reduce the distance only to 250 feet or more after finding that adverse impacts will not result.

Data centers must meet applicable nonresidential dimensional standards, including a 100-foot front setback, 20-foot side and rear setbacks, 50-foot minimum building spacing and a 70-foot maximum building height.

The site must be large and configured to satisfy applicable dimensional, access, parking, loading, stormwater, bufferyard, screening, security and separation requirements.

Secondary emergency access is required unless the Zoning Hearing Board approves an adequate alternative based on site conditions, emergency planning and emergency-service review.

Loading docks, truck entrances, generator yards, cooling equipment and truck aisles must be oriented away from residential uses, residential zoning districts and Sensitive Receptors to the greatest extent feasible.

Buildings, cooling equipment, generators, transformers, substations, battery systems, loading areas, refuse areas and other service equipment must be screened or enclosed from public roads, residential and agricultural uses, residential zoning districts and Sensitive Receptors.

Data centers must comply with noise and vibration limits, including residential limits of 55 dBA during the day and 45 dBA at night, with a five-dBA reduction for prominent tonal sound.

A post-construction noise study and vibration analysis must be submitted one to twelve months after the first Certificate of Occupancy, and demonstrated noncompliance requires mitigation.

Routine generator testing is limited to 9:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, unless an alternative is approved or required by law or utility-reliability requirements; testing must last only as long as reasonably necessary and generally avoid simultaneous operation.

Backup power may operate during normal conditions only for permitted testing, maintenance or similar authorized purposes; emergency operation is limited to a defined Emergency Condition, must return to standby within one hour after the condition ends and may not exceed 55 dBA at the applicable receiving lot line even during an emergency.

Operators must log all backup-power operation and submit reports when systems operate for more than 24 consecutive hours or more than 72 cumulative hours in a calendar quarter; qualifying non-emergency operation also requires a corrective-action plan.

Where public water is available and the provider confirms sufficient capacity, data centers may not use private groundwater wells or direct surface-water withdrawals for cooling.

Public-water or public-sewer service requires documentation of provider capacity, system improvements and service conditions; nonpublic water sources require a professional feasibility study addressing yield, demand, discharge or reuse and impacts on nearby water resources.

The Zoning Hearing Board may require closed-loop cooling, air cooling, water reuse or other water-conservation measures, and may require a drought-response plan where demand is significant relative to available supply.

Applicants must submit an Energy Demand and Supply Report addressing annual and peak electricity demand, supply sources, storage, backup power, substations, utility capacity, phased demand, demand-response participation and utility upgrades or conditions.

Electric-generating equipment used for normal operations, supplemental power, peak shaving, economic dispatch, demand response or grid services is not treated as backup generation and requires separate approval under the ordinance, potentially as an Electric Generating Facility.

Battery systems used primarily for electricity sales, grid support, merchant energy activity or purposes independent of data-center backup require separate approval as Industrial-Scale Battery Storage or another authorized principal use.

Applicants must submit an emergency-response plan covering emergency access, fire suppression, evacuation, backup power, fuel, batteries, thermal runaway, hazardous materials, refrigerants, utility shutoffs and emergency contacts; the plan must be provided to emergency responders and updated annually.

Operators must maintain current 24-hour emergency contact information, post emergency-contact signage, coordinate with emergency responders on radio coverage and specialized training and address documented emergency-response impacts.

Electronic waste, batteries, hazardous materials, refrigerants and equipment awaiting recycling or disposal must be stored inside an enclosed building; outdoor storage is prohibited.

Before receiving a Zoning or Development Permit, a data center must have a decommissioning plan and financial security equal to 110 percent of estimated decommissioning costs; the estimate and security must be updated every five years.

After permanent cessation or abandonment, decommissioning must begin within one year and be completed within 18 months, with one possible extension of up to one year for good cause approved by the Zoning Hearing Board.

A material expansion or modification requires additional Special Exception review before permitting, including new buildings or phases, increased electrical or water demand, increased cooling, generation or battery capacity, relocated major equipment or other unapproved increases in scale or intensity.

Data-center parking must provide one space per employee on the largest shift, one space for each company vehicle stored on-site and five visitor spaces.

Allows data centers as principal or accessory uses in the Industrial District through a special-exception approval process.

Allows related accessory infrastructure on the same lot, including administrative offices, fiber and utility lines, cooling equipment, battery backup systems, substations, water towers, pump stations, water and wastewater facilities, and backup power systems.

Treats batteries used solely for data-center backup or reliability support as accessory uses and exempts them from industrial-scale battery-storage requirements.

Allows the Zoning Hearing Board to reduce the 500-foot separation from residential uses, sensitive receptors, or residential zoning boundaries to no less than 250 feet when specified site, noise, screening, and impact criteria are met.

Allows data-center campuses to be built in phases under an approved conceptual master plan, without treating the entire campus as one construction phase.

Provides that buildings, improvements, or phases contemplated by an approved special exception, along with routine maintenance, repairs, equivalent equipment replacement, and minor site or engineering adjustments, do not by themselves require another special exception.

Defines when a data-center expansion or modification is material, allowing changes outside that definition to proceed without further special-exception review if existing requirements and approval conditions remain satisfied.

Allows backup generators to operate during qualifying emergencies and to exceed ordinary sound limits when necessary, subject to a maximum of 55 dBA at the applicable receiving property line and other mitigation and reporting requirements.

Expressly permits backup generators as accessory uses for emergency power, temporary outage power, routine testing, and maintenance, subject to disclosure, siting, screening, fuel-storage, and noise requirements.

Provides that rooftop solar systems serving a data center are not classified as electric generating facilities solely because they supply electricity to the data center.

Sets data-center parking at one space per employee on the largest shift, one space per company vehicle stored on-site, and five visitor spaces, with additional spaces required for company vehicles and other needs.

Includes cloud computing, artificial-intelligence computing, data processing, data storage, cryptocurrency mining, blockchain verification, and similar high-density computing within the data-center principal-use classification.