Colebrookdale, Boyertown Weigh Data Centers in Quarry Zone

Data centers could be built in one part of Colebrookdale Township, with the township's Zoning Hearing Board deciding each application, under a zoning amendment that Colebrookdale's commissioners and Boyertown Borough Council will each hold a public hearing on Monday, Nov. 2. Both boards may vote to enact it the same night. The amendment changes the zoning code that Boyertown, Colebrookdale and Pike Township share, and state law says no amendment to a joint zoning ordinance takes effect "unless all of the participating municipalities approve the amendment" (Section 809-A(c)). Pike Township advertised its own hearing for Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. at the township building, 805 Hill Church Road, in a Reading Eagle notice Oct. 20; nothing about it appears on the township's website.

Where data centers could go

The Colebrookdale notice, signed by Township Manager Todd Gamler and Solicitor Christopher J. Hartman, says the ordinance would "allow for and provide regulations for data center use as a special exception use within the GI/Q General Industrial/Quarry District of Colebrookdale Township." A special exception is a use the zoning code allows only if the Zoning Hearing Board, an appointed board, finds that the application meets the conditions written into the code; state law lets the board add "reasonable conditions and safeguards" of its own (Municipalities Planning Code, Section 912.1).

The GI/Q district, by the joint ordinance's own description (Section 301.D.13), exists "to provide for a wide range of industrial uses," to control them "to avoid nuisances and environmental hazards," and "to also provide opportunities for mineral extraction/quarrying uses." On the township's official zoning map, certified June 16, 2025, it is a single area on the township's west side, between North Reading Avenue (Route 100) and the Bechtelsville Borough line, with Unger Lane running into it and Weisstown Road along its southern edge. Lots there must be at least 2 acres, with 50-foot front setbacks and a 60-foot height limit (Sections 307.A and 307.B). The code already lets the Zoning Hearing Board approve a junkyard, a motor vehicle racetrack, a prison, a solid waste landfill, petroleum refining or a trucking terminal there by special exception (Section 306.B.2). The notice does not name any parcel, applicant or owner, and no data center application for the township appears in any posted record.

The ordinance text, which Boyertown posted Oct. 27 as "Joint Zoning Ordinance" (the file is titled "Ord 04 2026 JZO Amendment Final"), marks data centers "N in LI; SE in GI/Q (Colebrookdale Township only)" in the use table. Light Industrial lots stay closed to them. Its Section 402.62 sets the conditions an applicant would have to meet:

• 15 acres minimum; no building over 100,000 square feet or 60 feet tall; no more than three buildings per development.
• Buildings and equipment at least 100 feet from any lot line, 200 feet from any dwelling or residential district, and 1,000 feet from any school, cemetery, church, licensed day care, designated historic structure or other data center.
• Closed-loop liquid cooling, with no cooling fluid or condensate released to sewers, stormwater, streams or groundwater.
• Backup generators fueled only by natural gas piped from a PUC-regulated utility, limited to 50 hours a year of testing, set back 300 feet from any residential lot line, with air-quality monitors at the property lines.
• Public water and public sewer service; a water study; a hydrological study of nearby private wells; an electric interconnection agreement showing capacity is available.
• A noise study in four phases, from application through quarterly reports after opening, at the applicant's cost.
• An emergency response plan approved by the township fire marshal, plus yearly training and any specialized equipment for Boyertown Area Fire & Rescue and Boyertown Community Ambulance, paid by the data center.
• Decommissioning within six months once electric use falls more than 50 percent from its peak for a year, backed by funds equal to at least 125 percent of the net cost.

The ordinance's recitals say the planning commissions of Berks County, Pike, Boyertown and Colebrookdale, and the three municipalities' joint planning commission, "have reviewed the amendments and have all recommended its approval." The three municipalities' joint planning commission advertised a Sept. 23 meeting at Borough Hall "to review an ordinance," per a Reading Eagle notice Sept. 21; no review letters are posted.

Four other changes in the same ordinance

The notice lists five parts, and the posted text matches all five. The other four:

• A "special event venue," a building rented for weddings, parties and corporate events, becomes a special exception in the TC Town Center District, which the ordinance says "is located only in Boyertown Borough." Events would be capped at 200 guests, held indoors, and end by 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with two-hour extensions on six listed holidays and until 1 a.m. on New Year's Eve.
• Boyertown's zoning map would change three parcels from LI Light Industrial to TC Town Center. The Colebrookdale notice does not name them; the ordinance text (Section 2) identifies them as 100, 124 and 134 North Chestnut Street. The posted map does not label them, and the ordinance's Exhibit A is a placeholder reading "[BOYERTOWN BOROUGH ZONING MAP EXHIBIT TO BE ATTACHED]."
• New definitions for "commercial trailer" and "portable storage container."
• Rules for using them for storage: a zoning permit for any placement; on a home lot, one unit at a time, for up to 90 days during permitted construction, renewable twice, or 30 days for a move; on commercial lots, up to three long-term in the rear yard, screened; on industrial lots, up to five.

One zoning code, three governments

Boyertown, Colebrookdale and Pike have shared one zoning code since 2010. The Joint Zoning Ordinance records that Boyertown enacted it Sept. 29, 2010, Colebrookdale Oct. 4 and Pike Nov. 2, 2010, "under the authority conferred by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code." The state code's Article VIII-A lets neighboring municipalities "enact, amend and repeal joint municipal zoning ordinances" to carry out a joint comprehensive plan (Section 801-A). The amendment's own recital instead cites Article XI, the code's intergovernmental cooperative planning article. The draft carries signature blocks for all three boards, numbers left blank, and takes effect five days after enactment.

Colebrookdale's commissioners voted Oct. 5, on a motion by Matthew Pritchard seconded by William Spade, to have the solicitor advertise the hearing and "possible adoption of the joint ordinance amendment," the minutes show (p. 2). Boyertown's Oct. 5 agenda asked council to advertise the Nov. 2 hearing and Ordinance No. 04-2026 for adoption, as we reported in our preview; the borough's Oct. 5 minutes are not posted. Pike's supervisors advertised a public hearing and enactment for Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. at the township building, 805 Hill Church Road, in the Reading Eagle Oct. 20, the board's regular first-Tuesday meeting time per its board page; the page carries no notice and no agenda newer than the Oct. 14 budget workshop.

Colebrookdale was one of six townships drafting data-center rules this spring, per our report. Where other Berks municipalities stand is in our data center tracker.

How to attend

Colebrookdale: Monday, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m., Colebrookdale Township Municipal Building, 765 W. Philadelphia Ave., Boyertown. The notice says the hearing will be held "during its regular meeting," with enactment to be considered the same night. The full ordinance can be read free or copied at cost at the township building during office hours, or at the Berks County Law Library in the courthouse in Reading. The township links the notice from its home page under its Township Special Announcements heading; it is not on the meeting-minutes page, and no Nov. 2 agenda is posted.

Boyertown: Monday, Nov. 2, 7 p.m., Borough Hall, 100 S. Washington St. The borough's notice, signed by Manager Pat Loder and Hartman, says council "will hold a public hearing and immediately thereafter at its regular meeting will consider enactment." The council agenda for Nov. 2 is not yet on the Agenda Center. Both notices ran in the Reading Eagle Oct. 11, per the state public-notice archive; each says it was to run again Oct. 18, a run the archive does not list.

Also in Colebrookdale

The Zoning Hearing Board meets Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. at the township building on an application by Paulmar612 Associates LLC for a 43.3-foot front setback instead of the required 50 feet for an addition at 441 County Line Road, matching the existing building, per the posted notice.

The commissioners held a 2027 budget meeting Monday, Oct. 26, with an agenda listing general fund revenue and expenses and eight other funds, with no figures; no minutes are posted. At last year's first budget meeting the board discussed a real estate tax increase of a half mill or one mill and a recycling rate of $100 a year, up from $90, according to the Oct. 27, 2025 minutes. Our Sept. 21 recap covers the township's $140,461.33-a-month 2027 police cost.