West Whiteland planners set 1,000-foot buffer in draft data center amendment, schedule June 30 meeting

The West Whiteland Township Planning Commission on June 2 discussed a draft zoning amendment to regulate data centers and reached consensus to require a 1,000-foot separation from the boundaries of specified residential zoning districts (R-1, R-2, R-3 and O/R). Planning Director John Weller said the Board of Supervisors invoked a municipal cure on April 22, 2026, giving the Township 180 days — until Oct. 19, 2026 — to adopt the amendment and that the commission should complete its review by early August.

The decision matters because separation distances and the map of "sensitive receptors" — residences, schools and churches — determine which parcels remain eligible for development. Weller presented maps showing the I-2 zoning district, FEMA-designated floodplain and floodways, and two buffer scenarios (750 and 1,000 feet). He said a 1,000-foot buffer leaves roughly 80 acres potentially buildable for data centers, with about half of that area inside the floodplain and likely to require variances.

Commissioners debated whether to treat athletic fields the same as school buildings after Weller noted the Collegium Charter School athletic fields on Clover Mill Road sit inside the I-2 district but had been excluded from the sensitive-receptor layer. The commission agreed to measure the buffer from the zoning district boundary to the building or accessory-structure footprint and to explicitly reference the R-1, R-2, R-3 and O/R zoning districts rather than a broader undefined "residential use" term; that change allowed deletion of the Residential use paragraph in Section 1 of the draft.

Resident Swati Pradhan of 109 Commerce Drive spoke during public comment in favor of the amendment's renewable-energy language but urged limits on backup generators, saying, "diesel generators are noisy and produce pollution that impacts climate change." Commissioners asked whether the Township can limit cooling-system types or fuel sources; Weller said the Township may adopt physical performance standards tied to public health, safety and welfare but may not categorically ban a technology. He also cited riparian buffer setbacks established in the Stormwater Management Ordinance (§270-15.T), noting applicants may request waivers.

Chair Keith Choper suggested requiring periodic reporting by data centers — either semiannually or annually — on energy consumption, waste generation and water discharge as a condition of conditional-use approval. Weller said such reporting can be imposed during the conditional-use review. The commission also reiterated that noise limits should be placed in the Noise Disturbance Ordinance so they apply uniformly across uses rather than only to data centers.

Next steps: the commission agreed to advertise and hold a special meeting on June 30 at 6:30 p.m. to continue drafting the amendment; Weller will provide updated maps showing the chosen parameters and floodplain overlays and will circulate a redline of the draft amendment before that meeting. The Board-imposed municipal cure requires the Township to act by Oct. 19, 2026, or risk the Board taking further action.

Procedural action: the commission approved the minutes of May 21, 2026 (motion by Virginia Kerslake; second by Priyanka Gupta). The motion passed with a recorded tally of 4-0-2; Ms. Denise Jones and Chair Keith Choper were recorded as abstaining because they did not attend the May 21 meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 9:01 p.m.