Upper Moreland starts six-month zoning rewrite for data centers after resident concerns

Upper Moreland Township commissioners told residents at their June 1 meeting that the township has begun a six-month curative amendment process to set where and how data centers may be sited and regulated in the municipality.

Resident Joan Pritchard told commissioners she was worried about the local impacts of data centers, including rising electricity rates, water use and handling, 24-hour noise and bright lights, and the potential purchase or redevelopment of large parcels of land near homes. "My concerns are the use of electricity and rates ... water usage ... noise ... lights being bright even at night," Pritchard said.

Township legal counsel explained the board cannot simply ban data centers outright. "You can't outright ... do a moratorium in Pennsylvania on data centers," the solicitor said, describing a curative amendment process under which the township must provide for data centers somewhere in the municipality but can place heavy, legally defensible restrictions on sound, electricity, decommissioning and other issues. The solicitor said Montgomery and Chester counties had issued model ordinances that the township is reviewing.

Township staff said the Community Development Committee will take up the topic in detail; residents were invited to the committee meeting on June 15 at 7:00 p.m. at the School District Administration Building, 509 Davisville Road. Staff encouraged residents to bring questions and said the committee is the forum for debate and drafting specific restrictions.

The board's approach prioritizes limiting operational impacts while maintaining an ordinance framework that will withstand legal challenge, according to the solicitor. The committee process will develop the specific zoning language and restrictions to be considered by the full board in a later public hearing.