With data centers and more looming, LVPC looks to guide industrial land use and its impact

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s Transportation Committee is taking a long, hard look at land use as industrial use sites in the Lehigh Valley shift from mines and mills to data centers and cryptocurrency centers.

Chief Community and Regional Planner Jillian Seitz showcased the committee’s draft Industrial Land Use Guide at its Thursday meeting, highlighting what LVPC and local municipalities should consider.

Industrial development has been a key element of the Lehigh Valley since the 1700s, when settlers operated water-powered mills along the local creeks.

Fast forward to 1829, and the Lehigh Canal amplified that growth, leading to the growth of the ironworks industry by the late 19^th century.

The area also became a major silk manufacturing hub, with mills in Allentown, Emmaus, Slatington and other areas, in addition to cement production taking root in Coplay and Northampton.

Heavy industry, including juggernauts such as Bethlehem Steel, soon settled in.

And even after the drop in traditional manufacturing after World War II, the Lehigh Valley continued to expand into modern manufacturing, drawing companies including Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper and more.

E-commerce and logistics projects began to pop up more often in the 2010s, leading to the present day.

'Industry continually shifts'

“So industry continuously shifts," Seitz said. "And we're seeing it again today with digital infrastructure-based operations like data centers, which are emerging.

"And modern technologies are also transforming long-established industrial uses we already have.

"This evolution brings new challenges and communities. We need to plan proactively for this evolving landscape to balance economic opportunity with infrastructure availability and community goals."

The guide, she said, provides the resources, tools, data and best practices local governments need to manage current industrial impacts and proactively plan.

According to Seitz, the guide, once complete, will help communities understand industrial land use types, including what impacts are created by those uses.

It also will help them understand land-use impacts, determine how impacts can be addressed with available tools and apply a suite of municipal planning code tools to regulate those uses and impacts.

Industrial land use categories fall into five categories: digital infrastructure and tech facilities (such as data centers or cryptocurrency centers); advanced manufacturing (high-tech production facilities utilizing modern technologies for industries such as aerospace, medicine and electronics); freight and logistics; energy generation, storage and management; and resource extraction (such as mines or quarries).

Data centers

Each category has its own set of key impacts, Seitz said, with one in particular taking precedence at the moment.

“The primary land use of interest in Lehigh County right now is data centers, particularly large scale, or what's known as hyperscale data centers," she said.

"These centers are facilities that store, process and move digital information anytime we stream video, store files in the cloud, have virtual online meetings, make online purchases.

“The devices that we're using don't do most of the work. Those requests are sent to servers inside data centers. These facilities operate 24 hours a day, and must maintain uninterrupted power and cooling to keep the equipment functioning.”

Seitz said the region already has some smaller data facilities serving local business needs, typically about 20,000 square feet.

“But what everybody is talking about now is the hyperscale data center that can exceed a million square feet, because data centers run 24/7, and generate significant heat,” Seitz said.

They have several key impacts for which communities need to plan. Those include electricity demand, since those facilities require highly reliable, high-capacity power.

Also, water demand and disposal used to cool the computer systems; coordination with emergency responders, given the electrical, mechanical and battery systems present on site; and environmental factors such as noise from cooling equipment or the size and scale of the buildings.

The development boom for such projects, especially data centers, has become a hot-button issue.

Numerous rural communities have been substantially impacted by the centers’ use of energy and water, in addition to pollution.

Other land uses

But those data centers are not the only point of concern for the LVPC.

Advanced manufacturing — including microchip plants, biofabrication and 3D and large-scale printing — shares some of those concerns.

In addition, there's by-product disposal, transportation and varying building size requirements.

Freight and logistics — largely last-mile distribution centers, warehouses and flex spaces — also affect transportation, parking for delivery trucks, environmental factors, electricity demand and varying building sizes.

Energy generation, storage and management — large-scale solar arrays, battery storage systems, hydrogen and renewable fuels, and alternative fueling for transportation — need to consider emergency response and community safety, environmental factors and electricity and water demands.

Lastly, resource extraction — which is still present, if not as abundant in the Lehigh Valley as it once was — has key impacts on environmental factors, water demand, truck traffic and what to do with the property once the operation ends.

Seitz said the industrial land use guide will be helpful for communities dealing with new use cases with outdated comprehensive plans.

“We've heard from many communities struggling to manage warehousing, that they had older comprehensive plans, and their zoning was last updated during a time of a completely different industrial market,” Seitz said.

“And so when a warehouse proposal came to town, these large footprint buildings were permitted in areas that never intended to accommodate them.

"And their subdivision and land development ordinances also did not include requirements to minimize the impacts of the new developments.”

Mitigation the impact

Moving into the future, Seitz said, municipalities need to evaluate their comprehensive plan to accommodate new uses.

She said zoning should clearly define modern industrial uses, relegate them to appropriate locations, and apply standards for noise levels, air quality, lighting and so on.

Subdivision and land development ordinances, or SALDOs, should be used to reinforce regulations on infrastructure and other matters, she said.

“So together, SALDO, zoning and comprehensive plans ensure that community goals translate into predictable, high-quality, real-world outcomes,” Seitz said.

“The regulatory tools of the MPC can be applied to address all of the different impacts industrial land uses pose in the guidance document.”

Those impacts are grouped into categories: transportation and utility infrastructure, community safety, parking and environmental factors, Seitz said.

Concepts for mitigation strategies and best practices were reviewed, including identifying key freight routes and roadways for truck access.

Also, requiring stormwater management that protects water quality; coordinating with local emergency services, requiring sites to have dedicated on-site parking, encouraging dark-sky compliant lighting and encouraging flexible land-use designations to allow for the evolution of the industry.

Seitz said the committee will accept commentary from commissioners on the guide up until Dec. 1, and plans to release the guide by the end of the year.

“This is a practical reference for planners, municipal officials, community stakeholders, to better manage industrial growth and its impacts by aligning local policies and regulatory decisions with data and best practices,” Seitz said.