Data centers, data center accessory uses, and disaster recovery facilities are conditional uses in the ED Economic Development District, requiring conditional-use approval; they are principal permitted uses only in the M-1 Industrial District.

Buildings are limited to 60 feet in height, including roof-mounted cooling and ventilation equipment; accessory uses cannot exceed the height of the principal building.

Data centers, related facilities, and accessory uses must be set back 200 feet from R-C, R-1, or R-2 residential districts, existing residential uses, and properties containing sensitive receptors, subject to the ordinance's district-specific exception for certain adjoining ED, M-1, and R-E parcels.

A 100-foot-wide landscape buffer is required next to residential districts, existing residences, sensitive receptors, and public roadways, although it may count toward the required setback.

The landscape buffer must use specified native plantings, including large evergreen, canopy, ornamental, and shrub plantings at prescribed spacing and minimum sizes; utilities, equipment, and stormwater facilities generally cannot be located in the buffer.

Applicants must comply with architectural design requirements, including differentiated main entrances, foundation plantings or 20% enhanced landscaping, façade design changes at least every 150 feet or three times the building height, and fenestration covering at least 30% of each façade.

Cooling, ventilation, power-generation, and other operating equipment within 300 feet of a public roadway, residential district, or sensitive receptor must be fully enclosed or fully screened, unless enclosure is mechanically infeasible under the manufacturer's specifications.

Roadside fencing cannot be chain-link, with or without slatted inserts, and cannot use barbed wire or similarly intrusive deterrence devices unless the fencing is fully screened.

Applications must include artist renderings and elevations, demonstrate compliance with dimensional, aesthetic, screening, and landscaping requirements, explain utility needs, provide noise and vibration studies, and demonstrate compliance with decommissioning requirements.

Applicants connecting to the electric grid must provide certification from the electric service provider that sufficient capacity exists and that the provider will serve the facility; impacts on electric rates or availability must be identified and evaluated.

Energy-generation systems used to supply a data center during normal operations, including solar, wind, fossil-fuel, and nuclear systems, are treated as separate uses and must receive approval under the zoning rules applicable to those uses.

An Emergency Response Plan prepared by a qualified professional is required. It must be reviewed and accepted by the local fire department and emergency management services and address fire suppression, containment, ventilation, evacuation, emergency access, first-responder training, and annual fire-safety inspections.

Facilities with battery or other energy storage must demonstrate compliance with NFPA Standard 855 or similar standards and provide fire-suppression systems specifically designed for battery storage.

Water and wastewater requirements require public-water certification or, for nonpublic water sources, a detailed water-feasibility study addressing demand, sources, safe yield, recycling or discharge, nearby wells and surface waters, and potential effects on groundwater and surface-water quantity and quality.

Projects must obtain Delaware River Basin Commission review and approval for withdrawals of at least 100,000 gallons per day averaged over 30 days or consumptive water use of at least 20,000 gallons per day averaged over 30 days.

Applicants must demonstrate that domestic, cooling, and industrial wastewater disposal has been provided and approved by the Sewage Enforcement Officer and/or the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

A preliminary sound study by a qualified acoustical professional is required during conditional-use or land-development review, and an as-built sound study is required six months after the certificate of occupancy and before final escrow release; additional studies may later be required.

Operations must comply with octave-band maximum sound-pressure limits ranging from 72 dB at 0–74 cycles per second to 32 dB above 4,800 cycles per second, as well as the more protective applicable noise standards in Chapter 10.

A vibration study by a qualified professional is required, and recurrent ground vibration must not be perceptible without instruments at zoning-district boundaries or adjoining residential or sensitive-receptor properties.

Data centers and associated structures cannot be located between the 100-year and 500-year flood elevations, within specified airport-protection surface zones, or within 800 feet of a railroad, railroad station, railroad yard, or freight station.

For facilities adjacent to residential development, sensitive receptors, or residential zoning, generator testing is limited to 7:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. year-round, and generators may otherwise operate only for backup or emergency use.

No direct or reflected glare or measurable heat may be perceptible at or beyond the property line, including the boundary of adjacent residential or sensitive-receptor properties.

Smoke, odorous gases, other odorous matter, and steam perceptible at or beyond an adjacent residential or sensitive-receptor boundary are prohibited; dangerous or harmful radioactivity is also prohibited.

At the end of active use, the owner must remove unused equipment, structures, containment ponds, and similar items and restore or adapt the site for beneficial reuse. A decommissioning agreement must be executed, and required work must be completed within 12 months after operations cease.

Outdoor storage must be screened by a solid evergreen tree screen with trees at least six feet high at planting or by a six-foot-high solid visual fence.

Applicants seeking demand-based parking instead of the ordinance's standard parking schedule must submit a qualified professional engineer's parking-demand study documenting its methodology, assumptions, and data sources; any reduction is subject to Board of Supervisors approval.

Data centers and disaster recovery facilities are principal permitted uses in the M-1 Industrial District, allowing them to proceed without conditional-use approval there. listed as a Principal Permitted Use in the M-1 Industrial District

Data centers, disaster recovery facilities, and their accessory uses are allowed in the ED Economic Development District through conditional-use approval. listed as a Conditional Use in the ED Economic Development District

The ordinance expressly allows accessory infrastructure on the same tract or unified adjacent parcels, including temporary backup generators, electrical substations, cooling systems, fire-suppression equipment, water facilities, and wastewater-treatment facilities. Data Center Accessory Use

Existing vegetation and topography may count for all or part of the required landscape buffer, reducing the amount of new buffer planting required if the Board of Supervisors determines that existing conditions meet the screening intent. may determine that existing topography and/or vegetation constitutes all or part of the required landscape buffer yard

A data center may use a demand-based parking study to seek approval for fewer parking spaces than the standard schedule would require, if a qualified professional demonstrates that actual demand is lower. the Board of Supervisors may approve a reduction in the number of spaces required

Projects may rely on nonpublic water sources instead of a public supply if a qualified water-feasibility study demonstrates adequate yield and no adverse effect on nearby groundwater or surface waters. If the Use(s) are to rely upon nonpublic sources of water

For sites next to residential zoning or sensitive receptors, generator testing is expressly allowed year-round between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.; outside testing or commissioning, generator use is limited to backup or emergency purposes. Generator testing is limited to between 7:00 a.m and 5:00 p.m.

Data centers, disaster recovery facilities, and data center accessory uses are allowed only as conditional uses in the H-1 Heavy Industrial District; they are removed as permitted or conditional uses in the M-1 and ED Districts, and specified parcels are rezoned from M-1 to H-1.

Applicants must obtain conditional-use approval and submit extensive supporting materials, including site renderings and elevations, utility and emergency-management analyses, professional noise and vibration studies, and evidence of decommissioning capability.

A data center may not exceed 50,000 square feet, and data centers and disaster recovery facilities may not exceed 60 feet in height, including roof-mounted equipment.

Data centers and related facilities must meet 250-foot front, side, and rear setbacks and must be at least 500 feet from specified residential districts, existing residential uses, or properties containing sensitive receptors.

No more than 35% of a property's woodlands may be removed for a data center, disaster recovery facility, or data center accessory use.

Buildings must meet detailed aesthetic standards, including differentiated entrances, foundation or enhanced landscaping, facade material and color changes at specified intervals, limits on facade materials and design elements, and fenestration covering at least 30% of each individual facade.

Cooling, ventilation, power-generation, and other operating equipment within 500 feet of specified roads, residential districts, or sensitive receptors must be enclosed or fully screened, subject to a mechanical-feasibility exception.

A landscape buffer at least 250 feet wide is required between the facility and adjoining residential districts, existing residences, sensitive receptors, or public roadways, with specified native-tree and shrub planting requirements. Utilities, equipment, and stormwater facilities generally may not be placed in the buffer, and existing vegetation may satisfy the requirement only with Township approval.

Fencing along public or private roadways may not be chain-link, barbed wire, razor wire, or a similar visibly intrusive deterrence device unless fully screened.

Projects must demonstrate how their water, wastewater, emergency-management, and electrical needs will be met; comply with the current USGBC LEED BD+C: Data Centers system or an approved equivalent; and obtain LEED BD+C certification before receiving a certificate of occupancy.

Applicants must submit an Energy Usage Plan, document the electric-utility interconnection process, and disclose electricity demand, supply sources, backup power, and electric-rate impacts. Grid-connected data centers must procure at least 10% of their power from renewable generation within the PJM region through a power-purchase agreement or similar arrangement, rather than merely using renewable-energy credits.

On-site power lines of 34.5 kV or less must be buried, and electrical disturbances that adversely affect equipment beyond the property line are prohibited.

Diesel backup generators must meet EPA Tier 4 standards, undergo annual testing with reports submitted to the municipality, and be used only for backup or emergency purposes. Fossil-fuel emergency generation is generally limited to outages and maintenance or readiness testing capped at 100 hours per year, with routine testing limited to 9:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Peak shaving and supplying power to the grid are prohibited.

Facilities must use a central public water supply, generally use closed-loop cooling or demonstrate that an alternative uses less water and energy, provide baseline groundwater and surface-water testing, and submit a drought-response plan. Delaware River Basin Commission approval is required for withdrawals of at least 100,000 gallons per day averaged over 30 days or consumptive use of at least 20,000 gallons per day averaged over 30 days.

Facilities must connect to a central sewer system, provide certified evidence that the public authority can convey and treat the wastewater, submit an analysis of wastewater quantity and chemical composition, and may not discharge untreated wastewater to stormwater systems or surface waters.

Applicants must submit an Emergency Response Plan accepted by the local fire department and emergency-management services, covering fire suppression, containment, ventilation, evacuation, emergency access, responder training, and annual fire-safety inspections. Battery and other energy-storage systems must comply with NFPA 855 or similar standards and include specialized fire suppression.

Facilities must provide conspicuous 24-hour emergency contact signage and coordinate with municipal and county emergency officials to ensure adequate responder radio coverage, including installing enhancement systems when necessary.

Operational noise may not exceed 40 dBA or 55 dBC at a property line adjoining a residential zone from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., or 45 dBA at other times. Vibration may not be perceptible beyond specified property boundaries.

Applicants must fund professional baseline, preliminary, interim, and as-built noise and vibration studies through a Township escrow account. Studies must use full-spectrum modeling, cover 72 hours, measure property lines at intervals no greater than 100 feet, and include follow-up testing at three, six, nine, and twelve months after the certificate of occupancy. A 6 dB penalty applies to certain audible tonal noise.

Data centers, related facilities, and associated structures may not be located within the 100-year flood elevation or specified airport protected surface zones.

Projects must comply with Township outdoor-lighting standards and may not create direct or reflected glare or measurable heat perceptible at specified property lines.

Applicants must submit a professional Thermal Impact Mitigation Plan addressing waste heat, off-site thermal effects, mitigation measures, potential waste-heat reuse, and monitoring. No measurable heat from any source may be perceptible at or beyond the property line.

Smoke, odorous gases, odorous matter, or steam perceptible at or beyond the boundary of an adjacent residential property or sensitive receptor are prohibited, as are activities emitting dangerous or harmful radioactivity.

Applicants must provide an economic community impact study, baseline soil testing, a certified wildlife and habitat inventory, and an electronic-waste plan covering server infrastructure, hazardous materials, batteries, and related products.

A pre-development inventory for a data center must be prepared by a certified wildlife biologist.

A decommissioning plan and agreement are required. The owner must restore the site or make it suitable for beneficial reuse within 12 months after cessation and provide financial security equal to 125% of estimated decommissioning costs, with estimates and security updated after the first year and every five years thereafter.

The use is presumed discontinued or abandoned if it is not operated for a continuous 12-month period, triggering the decommissioning obligations.

Outdoor storage must be screened by a six-foot-high evergreen screen or a six-foot-high solid visual fence.

Applicants seeking demand-based parking instead of the standard parking schedule must commission a qualified professional engineer's parking-demand study, and any reduction in required spaces remains subject to Board of Supervisors approval.

The proposed amendment requires a public hearing and Township vote before the zoning changes can take effect.

Data centers, data-center accessory uses, and disaster recovery facilities are authorized as conditional uses in the new H-1 Heavy Industrial District, subject to the ordinance’s conditions.

Eight specified parcels are rezoned from M-1 Industrial to H-1 Heavy Industrial, making them eligible for consideration of data centers and related facilities as conditional uses.

Data-center and disaster-recovery-facility buildings may be up to 60 feet high, including roof-mounted cooling and ventilation equipment, subject to the required rooftop-equipment setback.

Data centers and related facilities may use demand-based parking calculations instead of the standard parking schedule. A qualified professional engineer must prepare the study, and the Board of Supervisors may approve fewer spaces if the study shows that standard requirements exceed actual demand.

Existing topography and vegetation may satisfy all or part of the required landscape buffer if the Board of Supervisors, based on recommendations from the Township Engineer and Planning Commission, determines that the existing conditions adequately screen the facility.

Data centers and related facilities may connect to central public water and sewer systems when the relevant public authorities certify that they can supply the required water and support wastewater conveyance and treatment.

Energy-generation systems supplying a data center or related facility are treated as separate uses, allowing them to be separately reviewed and approved under applicable zoning and state and federal requirements.

The proposed exclusionary 800-foot setback from railroads would be removed if the Planning Commission’s recommendation is adopted, making more sites available for data-center development. Removing an exclusionary 800-ft setback from railroads