(The Center Square) – Local government officials in Pennsylvania who have witnessed the storm of controversy over data center proposals are using a tool in state law that lets them create a de facto six-month moratorium.
Language in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code essentially says an entity without “data center” wording in its zoning ordinance can take a 180-day pause from considering proposals to create and adopt appropriate wording. East Whiteland Township, Chester County, supervisors in March voted to start its 180-day clock – even though the township already has an approved data center plan in its jurisdiction that is causing an uproar.
“It gives you time to write a zoning ordinance in peace,” said Township Manager Steve Brown. If a second, separate data center proposal should come in, he said, “We wanted to be ready for that.”
It isn’t unheard of to have two in one municipality. Limerick Township in neighboring Montgomery County is dealing with two different proposals.
Technically, the move allowed under the state MPC is called a “curative amendment.” Some other government entities that have moved to create one are West Whiteland Township, which is next door to East Whiteland; Madison Township, Columbia County; Pine Township, Columbia County; and Montour County.
“We did a 180-day moratorium back in November,” said Rebecca Dressler, chairperson of the Montour County commissioners. “We wanted to make sure that we had a data center ordinance that provides guidelines to any developer coming in with a data center.”
When the local government entity starts the curative amendment process on data centers, it does not have to consider any proposals from landowners to amend the zoning ordinance with data center language. West Whiteland – which has no proposals on the table – started its 180-day clock recently, as well.
“That way, the rules will be in place,” said West Whiteland Township Manager Pam Gural-Bear.
The state Legislature in Harrisburg has not approved any sort of comprehensive framework on data centers.
Both Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican President Donald Trump have repeatedly said the nation must beat China in the race for AI – and data centers are a necessary part of AI. Many state lawmakers speak strongly in favor of AI and of the need for data centers.
But state Sen. Katie Muth, a Democrat whose district includes East Whiteland, has said she plans to introduce a bill setting up a statewide three-year moratorium on “hyperscale” data center development.
Republican Sen. Jarrett Coleman of Lehigh County said in a memo he plans to introduce a bill to let municipalities put a moratorium on data center applications. Coleman’s chief of staff, Leo Knepper, said the MPC language that currently allows the de factor six-month moratoriums might not withstand a challenge in court.
Coleman wants “to make sure that there is a law in place that clearly defends their ability to have a moratorium,” Knepper said.
Statewide, the proposals are continuing to generate widespread opposition and unanswered questions.
Vitali Stanevich has plenty of those. A professional researcher, he and his wife and children live in East Whiteland Township a few hundred yards from the tract that could become home to a data center with two buildings with a 250,000-square-foot “footprint.”
The township approved a land development plan for the site in 2024. More recently, though, developers presented a proposal to change their plan, triggering widespread community opposition that was followed by a decision from the developers to revert to the original plan from 2024.
Stanevich said he doesn’t feel he can trust the company proposing the data center; that any mistakes made in construction – like a too-deep basement dug in a Superfund site where lithium chemicals were produced – would be nearly impossible to fix; and that there are real, hard-to-quantify dangers in a high-energy data center.
It’s almost too much for a local board of supervisors, he said.
“There is a massive concentration of energy. It is almost like a Black Hole, sitting right here,” he said. And, he said, it is all “on the shoulders of three people to make the decision.”
