Data centers are subject to county regulation in municipalities that do not adopt their own data-center ordinance; a municipality’s own ordinance takes precedence, whether stricter or less strict.

The ordinance imposes requirements addressing data-center lighting and light spill.

The ordinance imposes noise and sound-control requirements on data centers.

The ordinance regulates data-center energy consumption and related energy infrastructure.

The ordinance regulates data-center water consumption, including requirements addressing water-use impacts.

The ordinance imposes landscaping and screening requirements for data-center sites.

The ordinance includes green-building and native-plant provisions that can add design and construction requirements.

The ordinance includes decommissioning requirements for data centers, requiring future removal or site-restoration obligations.

The county ordinance supplies the governing rules for data centers in municipalities that have not adopted their own data-center ordinance, allowing proposals to proceed under a countywide regulatory framework rather than facing no applicable local standards. If a municipality adopts its own ordinance, that municipal ordinance controls, even if it is less stringent than the county ordinance.

The ordinance applies to all data centers, and where it conflicts with the Tioga County Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, the more restrictive requirement controls. The most restrictive regulations shall be applied.

Data center buildings are limited to a maximum height of 65 feet. A waiver requires engineering, architectural, and safety analyses, may require an independent third-party review at the applicant's expense, and cannot be granted unless the County finds no impacts to emergency response, environmental resources, or adjacent properties and no reasonable alternative exists. The maximum building height for Data Centers shall be 65 feet.

Principal buildings, accessory structures, and data center substations must meet substantial separation requirements: generally 250 feet from property lines and road rights-of-way, 1,000 feet from existing residential structures and sensitive receptors, and 200 feet from waterbodies, streams, and wetlands. Parking must be at least 50 feet from public rights-of-way and property lines. All data center principal buildings, accessory structures, and Data Center Electric Utility substations shall maintain.

Electric substations have additional setbacks: 200 feet from adjoining property lines and roadways and 500 feet from residential structures not located on the project parcel. The Data Center Electric Utility Substation shall be setback 200ft.

Each facility must provide at least one parking space per employee on the largest shift, plus three visitor spaces, and at least one loading bay designed not to obstruct street traffic and to preserve emergency access. A minimum of 1 parking space per employee on the largest shift is required.

Noise is limited to a 57 dBA Community Noise Equivalent Level at sensitive-receptor boundaries, other developed-property boundaries, and the nearest residential property line. The Planning Commission may require a noise barrier or device. The CNEL at the boundary of a Sensitive Receptor shall not exceed a noise standard of 57 dBA.

Air, dust, smoke, glare, exhaust, heat, and humidity from operations may not be perceptible at or beyond the property line. Any use or activity producing air, dust, smoke, glare, exhaust, heat, or humidity.

Data center equipment must be housed in metered, grounded, pre-engineered metal structures with a 30-minute internal electrical-fire rating and automatically closing fire baffles. Battery or other stationary energy storage must comply with NFPA 855 or similar standards and include dedicated fire suppression. The containment space shall contain baffles that automatically close in the event of fire.

Applicants must obtain written utility-provider verification of adequate capacity, safe electrical infrastructure, adequate cooling and operating systems, no harmful voltage fluctuations or interference, and a third-party final inspection of electrical work. The applicant shall provide written verification from the applicable service provider.

Exterior lighting must comply with the County Lighting Ordinance, including full cutoff or fully shielded fixtures, generally no more than 3,000K color temperature, very low property-line lighting at residential and agricultural boundaries, and overnight controls for nonessential lighting. all site and building lighting be full-cutoff/fully shielded.

The entire perimeter must have security fencing at least eight feet high and of high-quality design and materials. The Perimeter shall be surrounded by security fencing.

Data center sites must provide buffer yards and screening along property boundaries, with enhanced bermed buffers next to sensitive receptors or collector or arterial roads. Required buffer widths increase with building size: 100, 150, or 300 feet along specified frontages and sensitive boundaries for facilities under 100,000 square feet, between 100,000 and 250,000 square feet, or over 250,000 square feet, respectively. Where the combined footprint of the principal structure or structures exceeds 250,000 square feet.

Required landscape buffers must include specified quantities and minimum sizes of evergreen trees, canopy trees, ornamental trees, and shrubs; vegetation must meet species and maintenance conditions, and impervious surfaces are generally prohibited within the buffer except for access drives, sidewalks, and associated improvements. The buffer yard shall include a dense landscape buffer.

Substations must have year-round opaque landscaping or an at-least-eight-foot screen wall; substations on the data center property must be placed to the side or rear and outside required front yards; and on-site power lines of 34.5 kV or less must be buried. On-site power lines of 34.5 kV and below must be buried.

Facilities must maintain on-site or behind-the-meter generation capable of supporting critical operations, and generators must be Tier 4 or greater and operate at the lowest dBA levels. All Data Centers shall provide and maintain on-site or behind-the-meter power generation systems.

Applicants must submit an environmental and community impact analysis addressing operations, employees, vehicle trips, stored materials, site resources, disposal, emergency services, water, sewage, solid waste, schools, municipal finances, and potential environmental impacts and mitigation. The applicant shall provide an environmental and community impact analysis.

Projects using nonpublic water must provide a detailed water feasibility study addressing demand, sources, cooling and other uses, safe yield, recycling or discharge, nearby wells and surface waters, and effects on groundwater and water quality. If the use is to rely upon nonpublic sources of water, the applicant shall provide a water feasibility study.

Applicants must coordinate emergency radio coverage, install enhancements if needed, obtain a 911 address, confirm local fire departments have appropriate chemicals and supplies, and submit an Emergency Response Plan to County emergency services and the responsible fire departments. The applicant shall submit an Emergency Response Plan (ERP).

An Environmental Impact Assessment prepared by a qualified professional is required, including analysis of air emissions, truck idling, nuisance impacts, stormwater, comprehensive-plan consistency, alternatives, unavoidable impacts, mitigation, and critical impact areas. An Environmental Impact Assessment shall be performed.

All data centers must use closed-loop cooling systems; open-loop, once-through, and discharge-based cooling systems are prohibited. Open-loop, once-through, or discharge-based cooling systems are prohibited.

Projects must provide a Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program study dated within two years of the applicable application and comply with agency clearance measures protecting threatened, endangered, or special-concern species and habitat. A Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program study (PNDI Receipt) dated within two years.

If a site contains, is along, or is within 150 feet of specified water features, the project must protect, convert, or establish a riparian forest buffer generally at least 100 feet wide on each side, with additional width based on slope or wetlands. No earth disturbance, development, or material storage may occur in the buffer, which must be protected in perpetuity. No earth disturbance, land development, or storing or stockpiling of materials shall occur within the riparian forest buffer area.

Before approval, applicants must submit a decommissioning plan and financial assurance, such as a bond, parent-company guarantee, or irrevocable letter of credit. The assurance must cover at least 100% of estimated decommissioning costs net of salvage or recycling value, and the estimate must be updated every ten years with additional security if costs increase. In no event shall the security be less than 100% of the estimated cost of decommissioning.

Data centers require County approval through the Commissioners, unless authority is delegated to the Planning Commission. Applications must be submitted at least 14 days before a regular Planning Commission meeting, are subject to completeness review, and generally must receive a recommendation within 90 days after being deemed complete unless the applicant agrees to an extension. An approved land development plan must accompany each application. An application shall be submitted at least fourteen (14) days prior.

Applicants must pay the County application fee, all engineering review fees and costs, and all other Planning Commission and County review costs before final approval. All fees and costs shall be paid before final approval is granted.

Approval may be revoked if a data center is moved or altered so that it no longer conforms to the ordinance, and the facility must be maintained free of hazards and unsafe conditions. The approval shall be revoked if the Data Center.

Violations may result in civil judgments of up to $5,000 plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees, with each continuing day generally treated as a separate violation after the applicable determination period. Each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate violation.

Data Center Accessory Uses are permitted as part of a unified Data Center development, including generators, electrical substations, utility lines, cooling and wastewater facilities, water-holding facilities, security structures, battery storage, and on-site solar generation.

Data Center electrical substations may serve facilities on the same or adjacent site, or on a site immediately across a road right-of-way.

On-site or behind-the-meter power generation using natural gas, renewable fuels, or other clean sources is permissible when used to improve reliability, efficiency, or sustainability, subject to environmental, safety, and utility-interconnection standards.

The ordinance allows a waiver from the 65-foot maximum building height when the applicant provides required engineering, architectural, and safety analyses and demonstrates that no reasonable alternative exists and that emergency response, environmental resources, and adjacent properties will not be adversely affected.

The Planning Commission may grant written modifications or waivers from enhanced buffer-yard requirements when the waiver accompanies the land-development application.

Existing vegetation may be substituted for new berms and plantings when approved by the Planning Commission.

The required buffer yard may be located within required building setbacks, and access drives, sidewalks, and associated improvements are allowed within the buffer yard.

The ordinance establishes a defined application timetable: applications must be submitted at least 14 days before a regular Planning Commission meeting, and the Commission generally must recommend approval, disapproval, or conditional approval within 90 days after the application is deemed complete, unless the applicant agrees to an extension.

The Board of Commissioners may delegate authority to approve or disapprove Data Center applications to the Tioga County Planning Commission by majority vote at a public meeting.

Electrical substations serving a Data Center on the same property may be placed beside or behind the principal building and do not require buffer or screening between the substation and the principal building.

The ordinance provides exceptions to the noise limits for emergency alerts, emergency work needed to provide electricity, water, or other public utilities when public health or safety is involved, snow removal, and road repair.

If a Data Center uses a public water or sewage system, approval may proceed with certification from the public authority that it can supply the needed water and accept the additional sewage flow.