No data centers have been proposed to date in College Township, but a zoning ordinance update prepares the township for their potential development.
The township council on Thursday approved making data centers a conditional use subject to specific standards in the Rural Residential Zoning District and defining them in the zoning code as “buildings or premises primarily occupied by computers and/or telecommunications equipment where data is processed, transferred, and/or stored.”
College Township is the first Centre Region municipality to address data centers in its zoning.
Before Thursday’s change categorizing data centers as a conditional use, they would have been a permitted use and could not be subject to any special requirements beyond those in the ordinance for traditional industrial developments.
“This actually applies more requirements and applies a different process to the approval of data centers…” Assistant Township Manager Mike Bloom said. “But it’s also not a solicitation of these types of facilities. We’re prepared should one end up on our doorstep.”
The changes are preemptive measures to a state Senate Bill 939, which is currently in committee and which if passed could “hamstring local municipalities in terms of their ability to review and provide comment and requirements on data centers,” Bloom said.
Among other provisions, the bill would reduce the municipal review period for data center from 90 days to 30 days and prohibit any special conditions from being placed on them. By defining data centers and making them a conditional use, the township will have a 120-day review period and flexibility for applying conditions, Bloom said.
“We want to have as much time available and the ability to apply conditions where where we’re able to do so to make sure that we minimize any impacts that would ultimately be associated with any proposed data center,” Bloom said.
The growth of AI data centers in Pennsylvania and elsewhere has raised concerns about their impact on energy costs, water use and the environment. A recent Emerson College poll found that 42% of Pennsylvanians oppose data centers being built in their communities, with 34% supporting and 24% neutral.
During a review at a Feb. 5 Centre Regional Planning Commission meeting, Patton Township Supervisor Bill Burnett called College Township’s planned ordinance change “a very bad idea.”
“You have a lot more issues and a lot more problems with data centers coming into an area, and it doesn’t support the number of jobs that people think it does,” Burnett said.
Lindsay Schoch, College Township principal planner, explained at that meeting that the ordinance changes were meant as “an extra layer of protection at a local level to be able to add on any reasonable conditions,” and other Regional Planning Commission members pointed out that the use had to be permitted somewhere.
College Township Councilman Eric Bernier said on Thursday that Burnett “completely misunderstood” the ordinance change.
“One would think he would support this if you want that ability to place the conditions on what people are identifying as issues,” Bernier said. “Without this action, we got nothing.”
