Lancaster City Council approves community benefits agreement for two data centers

Lancaster City Council approved a community benefits agreement (Resolution No. 79) for two proposed data center campuses at 216 Greenfield Road and 1375 Harrisburg Pike at a special meeting on Nov. 20, 2025.

The agreement, negotiated between the city and site owners, commits the projects to a set of environmental and community measures before the council authorized city officials to implement it. Mayor Sarachi said the CBA "allowed us to negotiate environmental protections, operational standards, and community investments that go far beyond what zoning can require." Councilors recorded a series of votes after public comment and expert testimony; the transcript records Aye votes from Mann, Royo, Kleece, Craig and Hirsch and a Nay from Diaz; the motion carried.

The CBA’s environmental terms include a water-use cap, noise controls tied to existing ambient levels, and requirements for air-emissions controls. City Solicitor Barry Handwerger told council the agreement sets a "Maximum of 20,000 gallons per day per campus" for water use. Acoustic consultant Gabriel Weger (Burns & McDonnell) explained the CBA requires owners to measure existing ambient sound levels and hold project-generated noise at nearby "noise sensitive areas" to no more than the lowest one-hour equivalent ambient measurement recorded during daytime and nighttime monitoring. Al Yates of ARM Group, the city's air-permitting reviewer, said the state draft plan approval for Greenfield limits each emergency engine’s operation to "100 hours per year based…