Upper Macungie Township now has rules regulating data centers, but the zoning ordinance amendment adopted by supervisors Thursday night comes too late to affect the biggest proposal on the table.
The township, like many others in the Lehigh Valley, crafted the ordinance because of the likelihood that the biggest kinds of data centers — the massive, noisy, energy-gobbling computer campuses that power artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency mining — will be built here. The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission says it’s aware of several developers scouting the region for possible sites.
The most concrete proposal at the moment would turn the former Air Products campus in Upper Macungie into a 2.6 million-square-foot data center. Plans were submitted in early November and are scheduled for review at the Dec. 16 zoning hearing board meeting, though solicitor Andrew Schantz said the applicant is likely to request an extension.
The proposal was the main reason so many residents attended Thursday’s meeting, which opened with a public hearing on the zoning amendment.
Board chair Jeff Fleischaker said at the outset that the discussion would be limited to the amendment and wouldn’t touch on the proposal for the nearly 200-acre property at 7300 Cetronia Road.
The topic arose anyway. That’s when the audience learned the new rules wouldn’t apply to the proposal because it already has been submitted.
“Because it was a land development plan and not a strict standalone zoning proposal, what’s called the pending ordinance rule does not apply,” Fleischaker said. “When you apply for a land development, you are locked in to the laws of the municipality at the time of the application.”
However, he added, “there are provisions within our existing zoning ordinance that cover rules and regulations on how they’ll have to proceed.”
Like many other municipalities, Upper Macungie Township currently is revising its zoning ordinance, but officials chose to amend it now pertaining to data centers, so protections are in place as that process goes on.
“We’re going to revisit this during the comprehensive zoning rewrite but we wanted to get regulations in place now,” Schantz said.
Broadly, the amendment restricts centers to the General Industrial and Rural Technology zoning districts, and establishes setback requirements near residential areas or “sensitive receptors” such as schools, nursing homes and day care centers. It also includes noise buffers and other protections.
Similar ordinances have been adopted by South Whitehall Township and other municipalities.
Resident Scott Keller suggested the board consider restricting centers to Light Industrial districts instead, because the Rural Technology districts have considerable concentrations of housing on their perimeters.
Other residents raised concerns about the extent of energy and water consumption at the Air Products site, along with the impact on traffic.
The center would include three buildings. The biggest would be 1.23 million square feet and stand along the west side of the property. The second building would be 926,250 square feet, and the smallest is 435,600 square feet.
According to plans reviewed by The Morning Call, PPL and UGI would provide utilities and the Lehigh County Authority is planning to provide 95,000 gallons of water per day — a figure that comes from 2022, when warehouses were planned for the site.
Resident Lauren Miller said data centers will discourage people from moving to Upper Macungie.
“Let me tell you, when I was looking for a house, if I knew that there was going to be a data center within walking distance from my home, I would have chosen somewhere else to live,” she said.
Supervisor Sunny Ghai said the township will do its best to protect residents.
“We don’t have all the answers today,” he said. “We’re not done with this. This is a use that’s evolving and changing all the time. We don’t have a lot of experience and we’re all learning.”
Morning Call reporter Daniel Patrick Sheehan can be reached at 610-820-6598 or dsheehan@mcall.com
