Greenwich Township Adopts Data Center Zoning Ordinance

Greenwich Township now has rules for data centers. The supervisors enacted Ordinance 2026-02 on Nov. 2, and the township posted the signed 14-page text on Nov. 9 under a homepage notice, "Greenwich Adopts Data Center Ordinance." The ordinance amends the township's 1973 zoning ordinance to allow data centers in only two places: small ones, 50,000 square feet or less, in the Commercial district, and large ones, over 50,000 square feet, in the Industrial district (the Industrial district's rules take in the Commercial district's conditional uses as well, so a small center could also go there). Both need conditional-use approval. The amendment adds data centers to those two districts and to no others.

A conditional use is a use the zoning ordinance allows in a district only after the Board of Supervisors holds a public hearing and finds the applicant has met the ordinance's written standards, under Section 913.2 of the state Municipalities Planning Code. For a large data center, every standard in the ordinance's new Section 503.35 must be "proven as part of any conditional use hearing"; a small one must prove the shorter list noted below. The supervisors, not the Zoning Hearing Board, would decide any application.

The township's posted zoning map, a scan amended in 2003 and 2012, shows one Industrial district, along Old Route 22 between the villages the map labels Klingsville and Krumsville, and a handful of small Commercial pockets along the same road; the township office has the exact boundaries.

What the ordinance requires

The ordinance defines a data center as a facility used "to house, operate, or co-locate computers" for "artificial intelligence, web or cloud-based computing, computing services, or storage." It does not mention cryptocurrency mining, and it covers the substations, cooling towers and generators that come with a data center.

For a large data center:

• A 5-acre minimum lot, 60-foot height limit, 60% maximum building coverage and 70% maximum lot coverage, equipment included.
• Buildings and equipment at least 100 feet from any lot line or right-of-way; parking and driveways at least 50 feet.
• At least 200 feet from any residential zoning district and from any "sensitive receptor," which the ordinance defines as a school, preschool or day care (in-home included), a hospital, clinic or other health or care facility, a nursing or retirement home, community center, place of worship, park or preserve (trails excepted), campground, prison, dormitory, "any residence, or agricultural use" that exists or is under construction when the application is filed, unless it sits on a parcel already in industrial or commercial use.
• A 50-foot landscaped buffer on all lot lines with a 15-foot earthen berm at a 2:1 slope and a double row of evergreens at least 8 feet tall when planted.
• Screened equipment, and a second emergency access approved by the township engineer with the fire chief for that part of the township.

Small data centers in the Commercial district follow that district's existing dimensional rules, and the ordinance does not apply the buffer and berm, emergency-access or rooftop-solar requirements to them. It does hold both sizes to the equipment screening, noise limits and studies, generator rules, pollution and utility standards, and decommissioning rules that follow.

Noise

Measured at any lot line, a data center may not exceed 67 dB(A) from 7 a.m. to 7:59 p.m. on weekdays, or 57 dB(A) overnight, on weekends and on federal holidays. Generator testing counts, but the limits lift during power outages, up to eight hours a month. Expert noise and vibration studies are due with the application, during land-development review and within six months of occupancy. Off-site vibration, glare, heat, odors and detectable emissions are barred.

Power

A large data center must carry roof-mounted solar panels covering at least 65% of its main building's roof and keep them operable. Diesel generators must meet EPA Tier 4 emissions standards, sit in containment sized for 110% of their fuel tanks and run no more than eight hours a month for testing. The applicant must file an interconnection agreement from the electric utility, pay for any grid upgrades, and project the effect on other customers' rates and supply.

Water and sewer

The data center must run its water in a closed loop and connect to public water and sewer unless the township allows another source or disposal method. A licensed engineer must seal a water study covering every well within 1,000 feet and effects on neighbors' wells, plus a hydrological study. Drawing 100,000 gallons a day, or consuming 20,000, needs Delaware River Basin Commission approval.

Decommissioning

If a data center reaches the end of its useful life or sits idle for 12 straight months, the owner has 12 months to remove everything above and below ground. An independent engineer sets the removal cost, net of salvage, before final plan approval, after the first year and every fifth year. The owner posts security for that amount, as a bond, letter of credit or similar, before the final plan is released. If the owner fails to act, the landowner gets six months, and only then may the township draw the security. The ordinance sets no dollar figure and no application fee. Its Section 1, "Purpose of Zoning Ordinance Amendments," says the purpose "is not to directly or effectively prohibit" data centers but to regulate them.

What the record shows, and what it does not

The ordinance records that it was "DULY ENACTED AND ORDAINED" on Nov. 2 and carries the signatures of all three supervisors, Chairman Dean Spohn, Vice Chairman Victor Berger and Carl Dunn, attested by Administrator Cindy Conrad. It does not record the vote count or anything said at the hearing, which the Nov. 2 agenda advertised for 7:30 p.m. alongside "Potential Enactment of Ordinance." The Nov. 2 minutes are not on the township's minutes page; minutes post about a month after each meeting, and the Oct. 5 minutes appeared Nov. 4. The certification page names "Diane Hollenbach, Township Manager" as certifier but is signed by Conrad, and the enactment clause on page 13 leaves the year blank, "202__," where the certification page gives Nov. 2, 2026. The township listed the ordinance on its ordinances page on Nov. 9 as "Data Center Ordinance."

The vote to advertise came Sept. 8, when the board voted all in favor to advertise the draft and schedule a hearing rather than revise it and restart planning review, per the Sept. 8 minutes and our earlier recap; resident Anthony LaMastra's comments on the draft are the only public input those minutes record. The Oct. 5 minutes record Solicitor Colin Macfarlane saying he would have the draft advertised for a Nov. 2 hearing and that the township Planning Commission's and Dunn's comments "will be incorporated into the draft," so the enacted text may differ from the September draft. The Google Drive link that carried the Nov. 2 agenda now serves the meeting notice below.

Greenwich is one of 14 Berks municipalities our tracker lists with adopted data-center zoning, counting Washington Township, which has already held a hearing on amending its ordinance, and New Morgan Borough, which is weighing amendments to its own. Its 5-acre minimum and 200-foot residential setback are smaller than Maxatawny Township's 10 acres and 500 feet from an existing home; its sensitive-receptor setback, closed-loop water rule and five-year decommissioning cost reviews match Kutztown's Ordinance 2-2026. Neighboring Windsor and Perry townships each confined data centers to one industrial-type district.

Budget meetings Nov. 12 at 7 a.m. and Nov. 16

The township has posted a notice of two special meetings at the municipal building, 775 Old U.S. Route 22, Lenhartsville. On Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7:00 a.m., the board "will discuss and review the proposed budget and millage rate for the fiscal year 2027." On Monday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m., it "will vote to advertise the budget in the Reading Eagle." The notice lists no figures, and the "Proposed Budget for 2027" on the Nov. 2 agenda was not posted. Greenwich's real estate tax is 1 mill, $100 per $100,000 of assessment, among the lowest municipal rates in the county's 2026 rate table; see our rates by municipality. The regular December meeting is Monday, Dec. 7, at 7:30 p.m. under the first-Monday rule on the board page; our meeting-schedule guide covers other towns.

Also on the homepage: PennDOT's plans display for replacing the SR 4028 (Old Route 22) bridge over a tributary to Maiden Creek, between Chestnut Street and Dreibelbis Station Road, lists construction for spring 2028 to spring 2029, one lane under temporary signals, with Dreibelbis Station Road detoured.