ALLEN TOWNSHIP, Pa. — The Lehigh Valley looks set to see a wave of data centers in coming years, with developers lining up massive construction proposals, and municipalities racing to establish regulations.
But an empty warehouse in Allen Township could give one company a much quicker entrance into the market.
Prologis is seeking permission to turn a million-square-foot warehouse at 2500 Liberty Drive into a data center.
Allen Township supervisors unanimously approved those plans in March.
The facility is about a half-mile east of the township's border with Northampton.
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s comprehensive planning committee reviewed the plans Tuesday.
Its members are required to “take a neutral position” as it reviews proposals, but Commissioner Christopher Amato pushed his colleagues to set a standard for future proposals.
“This looks to be the first data center that might actually come to fruition in the Lehigh Valley," he said. "It is so important that we do it right.”
He credited Allen Township’s “excellent” township manager, Ilene Eckhart, for giving him “a degree of comfort” about the data center project.
Aligns with LVPC's goals
The proposal to repurpose a warehouse rather than build a new facility aligns with the LVPC’s development and land-preservation goals.
And the center likely would generate less traffic and parking than a warehouse, according to Jill Seitz, LVPC's chief community and regional planner.
But Allen Township “should carefully review” the proposed center’s impacts on noise and light, Seitz said.
The township also should “refine” its zoning ordinance to clarify how future data center proposals would be classified, Seitz said.
The committee on Tuesday recommended the full LVPC approve a letter that asks the developer to provide more information on the center’s operations, water and electricity use, cooling systems and emergency response plans.
“In this particular case, the facts as we know them are — by far — outnumbered by the facts that we don’t know,” Amato said.
The full Lehigh Valley Planning Commission is expected to review the letter and vote on it Thursday night.
