ALLENTOWN, Pa. — City Council signed off on new rules for data centers last week, and members already are working to make that legislation stronger.
After a four-hour meeting June 17, the body approved Bill 20, closing a gap in the city's zoning code by setting specific standards for data centers, including regulations governing water and electricity use.
The bill also requires developers to perform extensive studies of potential environmental impacts as part of the development approval process.
Four members — Santo Napoli, Cynthia Mota, Jeremy Binder and Cristian Pungo — backed the legislation, while two — Ce-Ce Gerlach and Natalie Santos — voted against it. Councilwoman Candida Affa was absent from the meeting.
Bill 20 “regulates data centers and holds developers accountable today — immediately,” Council President Santo Napoli told LehighValleyNews.com. “Is it good enough? No. We can do better. And that’s the point of the amendments that we’re working on.”
Napoli said he scheduled an “emergency” special meeting for Wednesday to begin the process of amending the new ordinance, as members and officials from Mayor Matt Tuerk’s office have been talking about for more than a month.
Council will introduce amendments that must then be reviewed by the Allentown and Lehigh Valley planning commissions before a public hearing and vote, penciled in for Aug. 5, Napoli said.
Members are expected to consider requiring bigger setbacks between a data center and other properties and removing one of the two zoning districts in which they can operate under the new ordinance.
Members could also look to beef up the legislation’s regulations for decommissioning a data center, he said.
“Let's say they're done in 10 years, and they just want to leave. What does that look like? How do you get rid of everything? How do they decommission the site so that they don't just leave us a blighted property that we don't know what to do with?” Napoli said.
More stringent noise regulations are also on the table, but those could be adopted without amending the new zoning ordinance.
New regulations a starting point: Napoli
Putting regulations on Allentown’s books was an important first step to limit data center development in the city, Napoli said.
Under the new ordinance, data centers are only allowed in the city’s most intense industrial zones, and facilities over 50,000 square feet would need to sit on properties that cover at least 5 acres.
Fewer than 50 properties in Allentown fit that bill. Thirteen properties can be fully developed and 25 can be partially developed; very small portions of seven other properties could also be developed, according to Jennifer Gomez, the city’s planning director.
Council had to resist a chorus of calls to all but ban data centers within the city, Napoli said, noting overly restrictive zoning regulations could be challenged in court.
Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Allentown is required to provide a "fair share" of land for all legitimate uses. Zoning ordinances can be deemed invalid and unenforceable for excluding those uses.
Amending Bill 20 before passing it would have sent the legislation “back to the starting point” and forced it to go through another extensive set of reviews by various boards and commissions, he said.
That would have left the city much more open to data center proposals — like one at 2401 W. Emaus Ave. — for several months.
That proposal is being reviewed under the city’s previous zoning regulations because its developer submitted an application before council signaled its intent to consider changing its code.
The project will not be bound by the new zoning ordinance’s provisions for data centers, including its limitations on which zones they can open in and how close they can be to other properties.
“Bill 20 has no effect on the Emaus (Avenue) data center,” Allentown Managing Director Frank Kane said.
But city officials were quick last week to remind residents the project must abide by all rules that were in place when the application was submitted, including extensive fire-code requirements and regulations for traffic, stormwater management and sewer usage.
The city’s planning commission was due to review the Emaus Avenue proposal on June 9, but the applicant — Zach Jordan of Langan Engineering — requested a delay.
