South Heidelberg Data Center Rules Now Law in 3 Towns

A data center can now be built in the industrial zone that South Heidelberg Township, Lower Heidelberg Township and Wernersville Borough share, but only after a public hearing, only at least 400 feet from any home, and only under noise limits that apply day and night. The same amendment ends by-right warehouses in that zone. All three have now enacted it; the signed, 18-page text is posted on South Heidelberg's eCode360 page, listed as Ordinance No. 296, adopted Aug. 25, 2026.

The three municipalities use one zoning code, the Southwestern Berks County Zoning Ordinance of 2004. The county Planning Commission's joint zoning map lists "L. Heidelberg, S. Heidelberg, Wernersville (Dec 2009)" among the county's joint-zoning groups, and its multi-municipal planning page says each municipality administers the ordinance within its own borders. Under the state Municipalities Planning Code, "no amendments to the joint municipal zoning ordinance shall be effective unless all of the participating municipalities approve the amendment" (Section 809-A(c)). South Heidelberg's August vote, which Berks Beat previewed, was only the first of three.

Three votes, one document

The executed ordinance carries three handwritten ordinance numbers (p. 1) and three signature pages:

• South Heidelberg's supervisors enacted it as Ordinance 296 on Aug. 25 (p. 16). The township's Aug. 25 minutes record a public hearing and a motion by Jon Gerhart, seconded by Thomas Vida, "carried unanimously by the Board to adopt Ordinance 296."
• Wernersville's council enacted it as Ordinance 645 on Sept. 2 (p. 18). The borough's Sept. 2 minutes show a six-minute hearing with no public comment, and a motion by R. Gordon, seconded by J. Pierce, that "carried unanimously." Solicitor Mike Gombar told council the I-3 zones "are not within Borough limits."
• Lower Heidelberg's supervisors enacted it as Ordinance 634 on Sept. 15 (p. 17), signed by Chairperson Paul J. Prutzman, Vice Chairperson Cheryl L. Johnson and Craig Lutz. The township's minutes page lists nothing dated after Aug. 11, and that entry is an agenda, so its tally is unrecorded.

The signature pages record no roll calls. Wernersville's minutes note that "The Joint PC and Borough PC recommended approval" before the vote. The ordinance "shall take effect five (5) days after its enactment" (p. 15); Lower Heidelberg's came last, which puts the effective date around Sept. 20. The enacted text matches the June 30 advertised draft in every operative section; the only changes to that text are the filled-in ordinance numbers and two typo fixes in the title ("PROHIBTING" and a stray "ELECTRICAL"), while the signature pages were reworked, with each municipality's certification reworded and a signature line added for every member.

What a data center must do

A data center is a facility "used primarily for ... the housing, operation, and/or co-location of computer and communications equipment" (p. 3). The ordinance adds it to the I-3 Limited Industrial District as a conditional use (p. 4), meaning the governing body can approve it only after a public hearing, and may attach conditions. The new Section 532 sets these standards (pp. 10–11):

• Buildings no taller than 60 feet; substations, cooling towers and other equipment follow the district's usual height rules.
• A 100-foot setback from any lot line and right-of-way, and a 400-foot setback from any dwelling and from any residential zoning district.
• A second emergency-vehicle entrance approved by the township engineer and fire commissioner.
• Noise measured at the lot line, including generator testing, capped at 67 dB(A) from 7 a.m. to 7:59 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 57 dB(A) from 8 p.m. to 6:59 a.m. weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday. The limits do not apply during a power outage. The ordinance's title also lists legal holidays among the quieter periods, but the operative section does not.
• A noise study by an acoustical expert in three phases: preliminary with the application, interim at building-permit review, and as-built within six months of the occupancy certificate, all at the applicant's cost.

Any zoning-relief application for an I-3 use must also submit a water-needs analysis, a well-impact study if not on public water, and a hydrological study showing no harm to groundwater, and "should" provide an electric-utility interconnection agreement noting any effect on other customers' rates (pp. 14–15). The ordinance sets no minimum lot size for a data center and contains no decommissioning requirement.

Warehouses lose by-right status

The amendment removes "Warehouse and Wholesale Trades" from the I-3 by-right list (p. 4) and replaces them with two defined uses, truck terminal and warehouse/logistics center, each allowed only by conditional use. Both are split at 250,000 square feet of floor area per lot into Category I and Category II (p. 4). A warehouse with 50 or more docks, or over 100 tractor-trailer or 150 other truck trips a day, must also meet truck-terminal rules.

All of them face a 40-foot height cap, a 5-acre minimum lot for Category I and 10 acres for Category II, and a 250-foot separation between truck entrances, docks, truck parking and any dwelling or residential district (p. 5). Fire lanes are required where state, federal or local rules call for them, lighting must control glare with cutoff fixtures rather than vegetation, and dock doors must face away from any "sensitive receptor," a defined term covering schools, day cares, health facilities, places of worship, parks and homes (pp. 3, 5–6).

Category II projects add buffer yards of 100, 150 or 300 feet depending on footprint, planted to a 12-foot screen within three years (pp. 6–8); loading docks at least 300 feet from a sensitive receptor (p. 8); berms averaging five feet high at a 3:1 slope where truck areas are visible within 250 feet of a lot line (pp. 8–9); and an Environmental and Community Impact Analysis covering emergency services, water, sewage, schools and municipal costs (pp. 9–10).

The change reaches only I-3. The ordinance's recitals say the shared code also permits warehouses by right in the I-1 and I-2 industrial districts (p. 2), and the amendment leaves those alone; existing or pending warehouse projects in South Heidelberg's I-1 and I-2 "continue to be conforming uses" (p. 4).

Where the I-3 land is

The ordinance names no parcels. Lower Heidelberg's posted zoning map, last revised in 2018, shows a single industrial district, I-1. Krick Lane in South Heidelberg has drawn the Ethos Development warehouse plans, one over a million square feet, per our Ethos report; no document we reviewed says which district those parcels sit in.

What this means next

Any data-center, truck-terminal or warehouse proposal in I-3 now starts with a conditional-use application and a public hearing before the governing body of the municipality where the land sits. No such application appears in any posted record. The only data-center item on South Heidelberg's Agenda Center since the vote is "Logistics/Data Center Ordinance" under the solicitor on the Sept. 15 workshop agenda, and no conditional-use application appears through the Oct. 20 agenda, which Berks Beat previewed. Lower Heidelberg posts agendas as calendar attachments; its Sept. 15 agenda lists a "SHT/WVILLE/LHT Warehouse-Data Center Ordinance Hearing" under the solicitor's report, but no minutes for that meeting are posted. Wernersville's council page lists nothing newer than the Sept. 2 minutes. All three municipalities now appear as adopted on our data-center tracker.