The amendment adds data-center-specific definitions and regulations, requiring a proposed data center and related accessory uses to be reviewed under the new SALDO standards rather than only under the township’s existing general land-development rules.

Data centers are subject to additional general development standards under the amendment.

The amendment establishes maximum building-height requirements for data centers.

The amendment establishes setback requirements for data-center buildings and related facilities.

The amendment imposes parking requirements on data centers.

The amendment imposes off-street loading requirements on data centers.

The amendment establishes noise and vibration requirements for data-center operations.

The amendment requires measures addressing negative impacts from data centers.

The amendment imposes safety requirements on data centers and related facilities.

The amendment regulates data-center power infrastructure, including power lines and electric substations.

The amendment regulates on-site power generation for data centers.

The amendment imposes lighting standards on data centers and related facilities.

The amendment requires perimeter fencing and security measures for data centers.

The amendment requires emergency-contact information for data-center facilities.

The amendment establishes protections or separation requirements involving sensitive receptors.

The amendment requires buffer yards and screening around data centers or related facilities.

The amendment requires environmental and community-impact analysis for proposed data centers.

The amendment imposes building-color requirements on data centers.

The amendment establishes water and sewer requirements for data centers.

The amendment imposes requirements concerning coordination with emergency responders.

The amendment requires environmental impact assessments for data-center proposals.

The amendment establishes decommissioning requirements for data centers.

Under the existing SALDO, a data center qualifies as land development because the definition includes a single nonresidential building, so construction cannot proceed without township plan approval.

Land-development plans must identify structures, units, easements, common areas, improvements, and improvements to public rights-of-way.

The township must forward plans to the Blair County Planning Commission, and it cannot act until receiving the county report or until 30 days have elapsed after forwarding the plans.

Plans must also be reviewed by the applicable municipal authority, and the township cannot act until that authority’s report is received.

Commercial, retail, and professional-office developments exceeding 15,000 square feet, and all manufacturing proposals, require a traffic study, landscape plan, and sewer-and-water study.

Nonresidential developments must provide paved parking, and the required number of parking spaces is determined by an approved parking study or, if no study is provided, by the township using its reference standards.

Nonresidential developments must provide required parking-lot lighting, interior landscaping covering at least 6 percent of the parking area, a five-foot paved walkway at principal access points, and designated fire lanes and accessible parking.

Nonresidential developments generally require a 10-foot landscaped buffer along property lines, with additional screening requirements where buffers abut homes.

Industrial parks, commerce parks, and shopping centers require a 50-foot perimeter buffer and an internal traffic-circulation system.

Industrial facilities must buffer outdoor storage areas with landscaping or an opaque fence.

Applicants proposing surface changes exceeding 5,000 square feet must prepare stormwater-management plans for township-engineer review and approval.

Applicants proposing earthmoving activity exceeding 5,000 square feet must prepare and submit an erosion-and-sedimentation-control plan to the Blair County Conservation District.

Final-plan approval requires completion of required improvements or financial security sufficient to cover them, with the security generally set at 110 percent of estimated completion costs.

Applicants must pay application, engineering-review, inspection, and other applicable fees and must deposit funds into escrow for engineering review; approval may be withheld if unpaid review fees remain.

Final plans must be recorded with the Blair County Recorder of Deeds within 30 days after approval, or the township’s approval is void unless a written extension is granted.

A developer may submit a combined Preliminary/Final Plan instead of proceeding through separate preliminary and final plan stages, potentially simplifying the approval process. A subdivider may submit a Preliminary/Final Plan

The optional Sketch Plan process allows an applicant to obtain informal Township feedback before formally preparing and filing a development plan. The submission of a Sketch Plan is optional

If the Township does not decide and communicate a plat application within the required time and manner, the application is deemed approved as submitted, unless the applicant agreed in writing to an extension or different procedure. Failure of the governing body to render a decision

A properly filed application is protected from later zoning, subdivision, or planning changes that would adversely affect it while the application is pending. No change or amendment

After approval, the developer generally has five years to start and complete the approved development without later ordinance changes being applied adversely; when preliminary approval precedes final approval, the five-year period runs from preliminary approval. No subsequent change or amendment

Required improvements may be deferred if the developer posts financial security, allowing final approval and related permits to proceed without completing every improvement first. The security generally must equal 110% of the estimated completion cost. In lieu of the completion of any improvements

When financial security has been provided, building and occupancy permits generally cannot be withheld solely because all approved improvements are not yet complete, provided the access streets are mud-free or permanently passable and other improvements necessary for reasonable use or occupancy are complete. The municipality shall not condition the issuance of building

The Township may approve final plats in sections or development stages, allowing a large project to be built out incrementally rather than all at once. Submission of final plats by section or stages of development

The Township may grant waivers or modified standards when strict compliance creates an undue hardship, so long as the modification does not nullify the ordinance's intent and, for relief requests, represents the minimum necessary departure. They may grant a waiver

Where a municipal water or sewer system is within 1,000 feet and has capacity, the subdivision must generally be provided with connections to that system, giving qualifying projects access to public utility infrastructure. Where a municipal water system is within one-thousand (1,000) feet