Six more Berks County townships draft data-center rules

A week ago we counted five Berks County municipalities writing data-center rules at the same time. The number is now higher. At least six more townships, spread across the eastern, southern, and northern ends of the county, have started drafting or advancing their own data-center zoning ordinances: Colebrookdale, Robeson, Longswamp, Centre, Bethel, and Caernarvon.

A data center is a large building full of networked computers that store and process data. The newest ones, built for cloud computing and artificial intelligence, can cover many acres and draw tens of megawatts of electricity and large volumes of water for cooling. Most township zoning codes never mentioned them, which is the gap every one of these boards is now trying to close before an application arrives.

The county told municipalities to get ready

The reason so many boards are moving at once is not a coincidence. The Berks County Planning Commission has published a two-page guidance sheet, "Planning Advice: Data Centers," telling every municipality to prepare for the industry the way they prepared for warehouses. Its staff recommendations include defining "data center" in the zoning code, treating it as a conditional use in districts with adequate power and water, considering joint zoning with neighbors, and requiring applicants to prove the electric and water capacity exists. The advice also offers sample standards a municipality can adopt: a noise study with a 55-decibel limit at the property line, and a 1,000-foot buffer between a data center and homes.

Those examples show up almost word for word in the township drafts below.

Where each township stands

• Colebrookdale is furthest along. Its Board of Commissioners approved a final draft of "Data Center Regulations" on June 1 and voted to send the ordinance to its joint planning commission and to the county planning commission for review. The rules run through the Boyertown/Colebrookdale/Pike joint zoning ordinance and would allow data centers as a special exception in the General Industrial/Quarry district. Boyertown Borough Council, a partner in that joint zoning, took up the same amendment at its July 6 meeting.
• Robeson had its planning commission review a draft data-center ordinance on June 1. The township engineer told the commission it is only "somewhat protected" today because a catch-all section of the code lets undefined uses into the General Industrial district by special exception. The draft would set building-height limits, setbacks to residential zones, water-supply and noise limits, and pollution and emergency-service standards.
• Longswamp has a "Data Center / Solar Energy Zoning Ordinance" on its July 14 agenda for revisions and possible advertisement, the step before adoption. The township referred the amendment to the county planning commission in June.
• Centre authorized its solicitor to write a data-center ordinance on April 28. The township has no draft text public yet, and no project has been proposed there.
• Bethel is at the same early stage: on June 10 its planning commission asked the supervisors to hold joint working sessions on a data-center ordinance. Bethel already carries heavy warehouse traffic along the Interstate 78 corridor.
• Caernarvon, at the Pennsylvania Turnpike interchange in Morgantown, has its planning commission drafting an ordinance for what its minutes call "AI data centers."

What the rules try to control

The concerns are the same in every township, and the same ones that drove the first five municipalities: electricity demand large enough to strain the grid, water use for cooling, steady noise from cooling equipment, and what becomes of a windowless building the size of several football fields if its operator leaves. The ordinances answer those with buffers, decibel caps, water-capacity proof, and decommissioning requirements.

How a resident gets a say depends on which path a township picks. A conditional-use rule puts each application before the elected board at a public hearing; a special-exception rule sends it to the zoning hearing board instead. Every one of these draft ordinances also goes to the county planning commission for a formal comment before a township can adopt it.

This is the second wave of the same story. The first five towns, including Reading, which adopted a six-month pause on July 13, are covered in our earlier report on the county's data-center rush. For which board decides what in your municipality, see how Berks County government works.

We will update this report as these ordinances are advertised, sent back by the county, or adopted.