CDC reviews draft data center ordinance, sets expedited schedule to meet curative-amendment deadline

Commissioner Richmond presented a first draft of a data center ordinance on July 20 that incorporates model language from Montgomery and Chester County planning templates and introduces stricter decertification and remediation provisions. Richmond said the draft makes data centers a conditional use, requires multiple environmental studies (energy, water, landscaping, buffering and utilities), and includes an escrow/decommissioning requirement telling operators they must remediate sites if a facility goes offline. "Once a data center decides to go offline, they're going to put into an escrow and sign a... land development agreement that they are going to decommission this and remediate any environmental concerns," Richmond said.

Solicitor and staff cautioned the committee about setting overly restrictive lot-size or acreage minimums that courts could find unconstitutional; they discussed a two-path approach where very large data centers would trigger full ordinance requirements while smaller proposals would revert to industrial district lot/area standards. The committee instructed staff to refine the draft and return to CDC in September; staff outlined county review and advertisement steps needed to meet the late-October deadline referenced in the discussion. "We have 180 days from that date... so we're last week of October," staff said when describing the curative-amendment timetable.