Upper Saucon Township supervisors unanimously approving a data center ordinance Monday night that would allow a facility in the township, but set a number of restrictions.
But, township supervisors Chair John Inglis said, rumors that the ordinance was a means of encouraging such development are false.
The ordinance puts regulations in place before a data center developer decides to build in the township. Without an ordinance, the township could be open to the desires of the developer, with little oversight over issues such as location, noise, water use or traffic.
“This at least gives us some say,” Inglis said. “That is our intent and our only intent.”
The 11-page ordinance defines how and where such a facility can operate. It includes a definition of data center, and criteria such as building size, a minimum of a 10-acre lot, noise, landscape buffers, fencing, air quality, water and sewer use, energy use and electronic waste.
The ordinance restricts data centers to the township’s industrial and enterprise overlays zones. It has one enterprise zone, roughly bounded on one side by Corporate and Center Valley parkways while one of its two industrial zones is off Camp Meeting Road and Route 309, and the other is off Jacoby and Suter roads near the Coopersburg line.
Township solicitor Thomas Dinkelacker said a key provision in the ordinance is that data centers would be considered a conditional use, which means plans for the facility would be scrutinized by the supervisors.
Under a conditional use, he said, the board could approve requirements that aren’t in the ordinance.
“The board can approve other conditions since they have the conditional use provision, so all is not lost,” Dinkelacker said.
The ordinance caps data center noise at 70 decibels, but concerns were raised about different types of noises — sounds could come in various tones, such as the drone of a motor or a squeak. Supervisor Stephen Wagner said sound levels should be analyzed on a scientific level.
“Sound has to be based on science and we need a standard to enforce it,” he said.
The 70-decibel limit is based on levels provided by the American National Standards Institute, said Trisha Lang, township director of community development.
Wagner, who was not advocating for data centers, said while data centers contribute resources to the public in the form of artificial intelligence, they do nothing for the township.
He questioned how a data center could provide more income to the township, and suggested there could be requirement it use the public water system.
Lang said the ordinance could be written to require that. She also said a developer could drill a water well, which would still be subject to water availability and provide information of the impact of drawing water from the aquifer.
“It’s important to capture what we can from this,” Wagner said.
Charles Malinchak is a freelance writer.