Maidencreek Township Weighs 1,000-Foot Data Center Setback

Maidencreek Township supervisors hold a public hearing Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m. on zoning rules that would let data centers into the Industrial district, and the agenda lists "Consideration of adoption of Ordinance # 263 Data Center" right after the hearing, so a vote could come the same night. The full 16-page draft is now linked from the hearing notice on the township's Board of Supervisors page. It would keep any data center at least 1,000 feet from homes and cap its noise at 55 decibels at the property line, day and night.

The meeting is at the township building, 1 Quarry Road, Blandon. The notice invites "all interested persons and parties" to comment "prior to the Board of Supervisors taking any official action on the adoption of the proposed ordinance." The agenda gives comment on agenda items a three-minute limit. Paper copies are at the township building weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; the office phone is 610-926-4920, per the township homepage.

What the draft allows

The draft defines a data center as "A facility primarily used to house, operate, or co-locate computers, computer communications, or computer storage equipment" and adds: "This use shall also include cryptocurrency mining, blockchain transaction processing and server farms" (p. 2). It also defines "sensitive receptors": schools, day cares, hospitals, nursing homes, places of worship, parks, campgrounds, prisons, dormitories, "any residence, or agricultural use," unless they sit on a parcel with an existing industrial or commercial use (pp. 2-3). Because farms are on that list, the 1,000-foot setback below would run from agricultural uses as well as from houses.

Data centers would join the Industrial district as a conditional use, to "be considered by the Board of Supervisors" (p. 3). Under Section 913.2 of the state Municipalities Planning Code, the supervisors "shall hold hearings on and decide requests for such conditional uses in accordance with such standards and criteria," and may attach further "reasonable conditions and safeguards." Today, the preamble says, data centers "are not regulated by the Zoning Ordinance" (p. 1).

The standards

The dimensional rules (pp. 3-4) set a 5-acre minimum lot, a 60-foot height limit, 40 percent maximum building coverage, 50 percent lot coverage, a 100-foot setback from lot lines and rights-of-way, and 50 feet for parking and driveways.

The largest number is the setback from neighbors. The data center and its equipment "shall be set back at least 1000 feet from any Sensitive Receptor and from the boundary of any residential zoning district. This distance may be reduced to 500 feet if the applicant can successfully demonstrate how it will exceed other environmental performance standards including noise levels that do not exceed ambient noise for that area, visual screening and/or aesthetic improvements that mask the data center use, and do not contribute to any thermal air changes that would affect the closest sensitive receptors" (p. 4).

The draft also requires:

• Two design elements every 150 feet on walls facing a road or sensitive receptor, a 50-foot landscaped buffer on all lot lines with a 15-foot berm at a 2:1 slope, and screened equipment (pp. 4-5).
• An emergency response plan "reviewed and accepted by the local fire department and emergency management coordinator," NFPA compliance for battery storage, an annual fire inspection and a second emergency access (p. 5).
• Noise, measured at any lot line and including generator testing, that "shall not exceed a maximum decibel level of 55 dB(A) at all times. Notwithstanding the foregoing, during a power outage, the maximum decibel levels specified above shall not apply up to eight (8) hours per month" (pp. 5-6), plus a noise study in three phases: preliminary with the application, interim during land development review, and as-built within six months of the certificate of occupancy, with the costs of the last two posted as financial security (p. 6).
• Rooftop solar "covering at least sixty-five percent (65%) of the roof of the principal building," EPA Tier 4 diesel generators with fuel containment at 110 percent of tank capacity, and generator testing capped at eight hours a month (p. 7).

Water, power and the end of the line

Pages 7 through 14 also require:

• Air, odor, vibration and glare limits and a heat mitigation plan (pp. 7-9).
• An electric report with the utility's interconnection agreement, "Any and all upgrades to the grid" paid by the applicant, and "The impact upon electric rates" for others projected (p. 10).
• Public water in "a close-loop system which must recirculate, reuse and recycle water," a study of wells within 3,000 feet and streams within 1,000 feet, a public-sewer will-serve letter, and Delaware River Basin Commission approval if a non-public source would withdraw 50,000 gallons a day or more, or consume 20,000 gallons a day or more, each over a 30-day average (pp. 10-11). Any cost of expanding public water or sewer capacity that the system's owner requires falls on the developer (p. 11).
• Decommissioning within 12 months after the data center reaches the end of its useful life or sits idle 12 straight months, with written notice to the township within 30 days (p. 12). An independent engineer prices the teardown before final plan approval, after the first year and every fifth year, and the owner posts a bond or letter of credit for that amount. If the owner walks away, the landowner has six months, then the township may spend the security (pp. 12-13).
• Parking of one space per 6,000 square feet or per largest-shift employee plus 15 visitor spaces, whichever is greater, and an electronic waste plan (p. 13).
• A public meeting, advertised at the applicant's cost, before the first Planning Commission meeting on a project, plus a project website with maps and renderings (p. 14).

Tighter than Greenwich on three counts

Greenwich Township, in northeastern Berks, signed its own rules as Ordinance 2026-02 on Nov. 2, after the September vote we covered. Its title page matches Maidencreek on lot size, height, lot-line setback, buffer and berm, and rooftop solar, and the two share a template: Greenwich's certification page (p. 14) reads "I, Diane Hollenbach, Township Manager," who is Maidencreek's manager, above the signature of Greenwich administrator Cindy Conrad; Maidencreek's draft carries the same line (p. 16). The two differ on:

• Distance from homes: Maidencreek 1,000 feet (500 with the showing above); Greenwich 200 feet from sensitive receptors.
• Coverage: Maidencreek 40 percent building and 50 percent lot; Greenwich 60 and 70.
• Noise: Maidencreek 55 dB(A) at all times; Greenwich 67 dB(A) weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7:59 p.m. and 57 dB(A) nights, weekends and federal holidays.

Greenwich also lets small data centers, 50,000 square feet or less, into its Commercial district; Maidencreek's has no size tiers. Maidencreek's two headline figures match the county Planning Commission's advice sheet, which suggests "a 1,000 ft. buffer between the facility and residential uses" and "a maximum noise level of 55db at property lines." The rest of the county is in our data center tracker.

Also on the agenda

The consent agenda approves the minutes of the Oct. 8 meeting, whose agenda carried the item to authorize advertising this hearing (those minutes are not yet posted), and of the Oct. 29 budget meeting; releases $220,000 to Northern Berks Emergency Medical Services for an ambulance purchase; advertises the 2027 draft budget for public comment; and appoints Scott Anderson of Kraft Engineering as traffic consultant, with Peter Terry of Benchmark Civil Engineering Services as alternate.

The engineer's report lists the Cornerstone Bridge bid and a review of the DEP permit for the W. Walnut Tree Bridge "and previous project cost estimate of $352,000." Public works seeks approval of a "crack seal purchase and extra machine rental" for $9,712.50 from SealMaster Municipal. New business is the Walnuttown Fire Company's request that the township indemnify the Commonwealth for use of state roads during the ShiBuck 5K on April 10, 2027, and ratification of a collective bargaining agreement. The Oct. 8 agenda had closed with "An executive session will be held at the conclusion of the meeting to discuss ongoing employee labor contract negotiations."

Maidencreek, Richmond Township and Fleetwood scheduled hearings in September and October on a joint comprehensive plan, the long-range plan zoning carries out; see our Richmond preview.

What happens next

If adopted Thursday, the ordinance "shall become effective at the earliest date permitted by law" (p. 14). The draft's signature lines for Chairman Joshua G. Meck, Vice Chairman Eric Bauman and Dawn Geschwindt are blank (p. 15), as is its ordinance number; "# 263" appears only on the agenda. Any actual proposal would then come back to this board as a conditional use case with its own hearing.