JENKINS TWP. — The township’s supervisors want more time to tweak a proposed ordinance to regulate data centers.
Following a public hearing Monday night, supervisors opted to postpone a vote on whether to approve the ordinance, which is an amended version of one initially introduced in April.
A key reason for tabling the vote was concerns raised by residents of neighboring Pittston Twp. that the ordinance prohibited data centers within 1,000 of a residential district in Jenkins Twp. with no mention of Pittston Twp.
The proposed Data Center Overlay District is on land zoned industrial that borders Pittston Twp. and homes on Baker and Chapel roads in that municipality.
“We are going to take this all into account and see what we could legally do to include you guys to protect us and be good neighbors,” Supervisor Stanley Rovinski said.
Jenkins Twp. supervisors on Monday postponed a vote on a revised data center ordinance after citizens expressed concerns over a new proposed zoning map. (Bob Kalinowski / Staff Photographer)
Supervisors, the municipal solicitor and their consultant stressed no developer has submitted plans to build a data center and the municipality is protected by the state’s pending ordinance law in case someone proposes one before the legislation is enacted.
A vote is expected at the supervisors next regular meeting on July 13.
The initial Data Center Overlay District introduced in April was much larger than the one introduced Monday. Most of the land in the new, smaller proposed district is in and around the CenterPoint industrial park on land owned by Mericle Construction.
In addition to the concerns about Pittston Twp., several residents expressed concern about data center water usage and some asked why the municipality can’t just ban data centers.
“When did ‘no’ stop being ‘no?’” said Amy Shatley of Kingston. “It’s like a bulldozer effect. They are enclosing the valley. Our farmland is being taken up. Data centers aren’t going to feed us.”
Jenkins Twp. supervisors on Monday postponed a vote on a revised data center ordinance after citizens expressed concerns over a new proposed zoning map. (Bob Kalinowski / Staff Photographer)
Thomas Shepstone, of Shepstone Consultants in Honesdale, said the state Municipal Planning Code mandates municipalities provide at least somewhere for every “legal use” to operate and data centers are legal.
“You can’t be exclusionary. If we exclude the use directly or indirectly, someone can appeal that decision and they will win in court. The worst part is if that happens they could go anywhere they want.”
Responding to some residents concerned about well water running dry, Shepstone said the municipality could mandate a data center use public water.
Jenkins Twp. supervisors on Monday postponed a vote on a revised data center ordinance after citizens expressed concerns over a new proposed zoning map. (Bob Kalinowski / Staff Photographer)
Jenkins Twp.’s ordinance limits the height of a data center to 65 feet. As currently written, data centers would be prohibited within 1,000 feet from a Jenkins Twp. residential zoning district of the closest wall to any occupied residential dwelling no matter what zone it’s located in.
All applications must be accompanied by an independently documented community and fiscal impact analysis, as well as a buffer screening plan drafted by a licensed landscape architect to blocks views of the data center and soften noise impacts.
Data centers water cooling must be a closed-loop system only, the ordinance says.
Solicitor Joe Blazosek said supervisors are trying to get a “step ahead” of any application. He said township leaders share a “common concern” about data center development, but the best thing the township can do it enact an tough ordinance to lawful regulate them.
“We didn’t say it was a lawful use,” Blazosek said. “We did ask for it to be a lawful use, but it is.”