Board Hears Zoning-map Change for "paintball" Parcel; Residents Raise Data-center Concerns

At a public hearing Aug. 12, South Fayette Township commissioners heard questions about proposed changes to the township's official zoning map, including a proposal to place a parcel referenced in the meeting as the "paintball property" into the Planned Economic Development (PED) district.

Evan Wolfson, a District 8 resident, said he was concerned that earlier draft ordinance language had appeared in a package that referenced data centers and cryptocurrency operations and asked "what parties or party proposed that package" and whether the map change was a first step in a larger plan. He urged the board to explain how the ordinance came to the commission and to publish the maps that show the parcels at issue.

A township staff member responded directly to those concerns: "This issue this evening has nothing to do with data centers. Nothing." John Barrett, township manager, told the board the rezoning traces to the comprehensive plan and the township's desire to take an incremental, parcel-by-parcel approach for lands with good highway access: "this property has great access to the new highway," he said, arguing the parcel had not functioned as residential and therefore belongs in PED.

William Price later pointed out that the agenda references Exhibits A and B (maps) that were not appended to the advertised packet; Barrett and staff said maps exist and would be included in the public record and in the packet when the board takes the item up for action next month. No ordinance vote occurred that night; the public hearing was adjourned under advisement and the board expects to return the item with maps and county reviews.