Council votes to advertise data-center zoning ordinance for public hearing in April

The council voted to publish a proposed data-center ordinance for public review and to advertise a public hearing at its April meeting after hearing a solicitor's summary of related land-use and environmental considerations.

The solicitor told council the electric power-generation ordinance, referred to the Planning Commission, includes hydroelectric generation within its definition but does not encompass wind or solar, which are regulated under separate ordinances. The solicitor also noted that Clean Water Act considerations and Department of Environmental Protection permitting could apply for projects that affect water resources and suggested council proceed at least with the data-center zoning ordinance because of time-sensitive development pressures in nearby municipalities, citing large data-center projects in Archbald, Pennsylvania, as an example.

A council member moved to publish the ordinance for public review and to advertise two notices for an April public hearing; another member seconded the motion. The motion passed, sending the ordinance to public hearing and leaving open the possibility of passage at the April meeting if council so chooses following the advertised hearing.

Councilors discussed that, if desired, zoning language could be revisited later through amendments and that the ordinance's language already covers a broad set of power-generation sources. Council did not take final action to adopt the ordinance at this meeting; the next step is the advertised public hearing in April.