West Reading Eyes Data Center Hearing, Police Grant

West Reading Borough Council takes up two items Tuesday that reach past routine business: advertising a public hearing on data center zoning rules, and sending the police chief after state casino money to renovate the police station. Both are on the agenda for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, at Borough Hall, 500 Chestnut St., where the borough's council page says the seven-member council meets on the third Tuesday of each month, with fourth-Tuesday meetings as needed.

This is our first story devoted to West Reading, a borough with its own council and mayor, separate from the City of Reading next door, and part of the Wyomissing Area School District, which runs the West Reading Elementary Center.

Data centers: a hearing, and a clock

Under the Planning Commission's report, council is asked to "ratify the forwarding of a revised Data Center Ordinance to the Berks County Planning Commission for their review and comment," and to consider "authorizing the advertisement of a public hearing for the inclusion of Data Center regulations within the Zoning Ordinance" (p. 2). A public hearing is the meeting where residents can speak on the record before council votes on a zoning change. The agenda names no hearing date, and the ordinance text is not posted.

The borough is working against a statutory clock it started itself: the Municipalities Planning Code (Section 609.2) gives a municipality 180 days from its declaration to enact the cure. On June 23, council voted 5-0 "to enact a curative amendment to the Zoning Ordinance to address missing use permissions, including but not limited to data centers," according to the minutes (p. 2). A curative amendment lets a town declare its own zoning ordinance defective, here for having no data center rules at all, and then fix the gap. The minutes summarize Solicitor Daniel Becker as saying formal action on the resolution "would provide a stopgap for developers' submissions that would otherwise be unregulated," while also declaring the ordinance invalid as to data centers and precluding "the ability to cure it for a period of three years" (p. 2). That three-year figure tracks the statute's own bar, though the trigger differs: once a municipality enacts a curative amendment, or reaffirms its ordinance, it "may not again utilize said procedure for a 36-month period" (statute, p. 1). What happens if the 180 days lapse with nothing enacted, the section does not say.

Resolution 2026-15, adopted July 21, says the borough "shall enact the Curative Amendment within 180 days" of the June 23 vote (p. 5). That is Dec. 20, 2026, by our arithmetic, a Sunday; council's last regular third-Tuesday meeting before it is Dec. 15.

The July 21 minutes record the Planning Commission discussion as council's president recapped it: data centers would be heard "through a special exception process" in the Light Industrial District, with setbacks and lot sizes drawn from example ordinances, 500 feet and 10 acres, that "would more than likely be exclusionary designations in the Borough of West Reading" (p. 7). A special exception is a use the zoning hearing board may approve if the applicant meets written conditions. On Sept. 2 the Planning Commission voted 6-0 to send the draft to the county planners, noting the borough was "about halfway through the 180-day window" (minutes, p. 2). Council was asked Sept. 15 "to ratify the decision to forward the Data Center draft" to the county (agenda, p. 2); Tuesday's item is a second ratification, for the revised draft. The Planning Commission's Oct. 7 agenda listed a county review letter and draft updates, and the Oct. 10 budget-meeting agenda asked council to forward the revised version. Minutes from the Sept. 15 and Sept. 22 council meetings and the Oct. 7 Planning Commission meeting are not posted.

The county Planning Commission reviews every zoning amendment before a municipality votes; its draft Sept. 9 minutes counted 23 data center amendments received, the newest from Spring Township and West Reading, per our data center tracker. Spring was one of the five municipalities profiled in our July zoning rush report.

Casino money for the police station

Council is asked to authorize "the Chief of Police to complete a Statewide LSA grant application for renovations to the police station" (p. 2). No amount is listed. LSA stands for Local Share Account, the state's casino-revenue grant program run by the Commonwealth Financing Authority, according to the Department of Community and Economic Development. The program's guidelines list renovation as an eligible use (p. 1), cap a request at $1,000,000 (p. 2), take applications from Sept. 1 to Nov. 30 (p. 4) and require no local match (p. 5). They also require a resolution "identifying the grant amount" (p. 5); none is on Tuesday's agenda. The Sept. 15 agenda listed cost estimates, "not to exceed $4,000," for the same application (p. 1). Wyomissing's interim manager reported in September that the borough was awarded a $250,000 Local Share Account grant for interior fire station renovations (our recap); the minutes do not say which LSA program.

Police pension

Resolution 2026-17 asks council to approve "the members' contributions to the Police Pension Plan for the year 2027" (p. 1). The agenda prints no rate or dollar figure for the officers' payments; the borough's share was set Aug. 18, when council approved a $525,904 minimum municipal obligation for the police plan, per the minutes (p. 8). Council is also asked to approve "payment of $2,500 from the Police Pension Plan for Act 49 Actuarial Study" (p. 2); the agenda does not explain the study, and the Pension Advisory Committee's Oct. 19 agenda did not list it by name, though it listed a "Thomas J. Anderson Review" and the 2026 plan financial statements.

Two traffic grants

The engineer's report asks council to let Systems Design Engineering and Traffic Planning and Design "begin the Green Light-Go Year 12 grant application process for upgrades to all pedestrian infrastructure at all signalized intersections," and to start "the ARLE grant application process for upgrades to the existing school zones and the creation of a new school zone on Fourth Avenue" (p. 1). Neither item carries a cost.

Green Light-Go is PennDOT's grant for improving existing traffic signals; the state's program page says applicants must put up a 20 percent match. West Reading already holds a Year 11 award of $219,672 for the Reading, Eighth and Hill avenue intersection, with a match of roughly $55,000 (Aug. 18 minutes, p. 3; PennDOT award list). ARLE is the Automated Red-Light Enforcement program, which PennDOT says is funded by "fines from red light violations at intersections in Philadelphia" and pays for safety projects at signalized intersections (Feb. 10 release); the next round opens in April 2027, the borough engineer said in August (Aug. 18 minutes, p. 4). PennDOT's program page says ARLE applications "are accepted annually during the month of June," and describes the funding as fines from both red-light and automated speed enforcement.

Also on the agenda

• Advertising amendments to handicapped parking designations on Tulpehocken Avenue, Chestnut Street and Sycamore Road, and to "regulations associated with street closures for events and construction" (p. 1); no vote to enact either is listed.
• Certifying the Civil Service Commission's entry-level eligibility list and holding "a local agency hearing to allow the commission to provide a hiring list" for police (p. 1).
• Appointing Jamauri Key fire captain, vacating his lieutenant's post for the rest of 2026, and extending a part-time Public Works crew member's position through the end of the year (p. 2).
• A COSTARS vendor proposal for "grant-funded sidewalk and curbing replacement along Playground Drive" (p. 2). No vendor, price or grant is named.
• A right-of-way agreement with the owner of 633 Penn Ave.; a solicitor's conflict-of-interest waiver; a 2027 memorandum of understanding with the Animal Rescue League; Tony's of West Reading's Oct. 24 block party and street closure; a resignation from the Shade Tree Commission; the 2024-2025 Liquid Fuels audit; nine-month financials through Sept. 30; and a Wyomissing Public Library presentation (pp. 1-2).

How to attend

The agenda says council met in executive session at 6 p.m. "to discuss potential litigation, real estate, and personnel matters" (p. 1). Public comment is limited to five minutes per person and to borough residents and taxpayers; written comments go to info@westreadingborough.org by noon on the meeting date (p. 1). Agendas post on the borough's agendas page.

What comes next: the Finance Committee's Oct. 15 agenda lists 2027 budget meetings Oct. 27, Nov. 14 and Nov. 24, while the council page lists a 6 p.m. meeting Oct. 27, a 9 a.m. budget workshop Nov. 7 and the next regular meeting Nov. 17; the two calendars differ for November. Other Berks meeting days are in our meeting schedule guide.