READING, Pa. – As the race to expand artificial intelligence accelerates, so does the demand for data centers, and legislators in Reading are thinking ahead.
Reading City Council member Jaime Baez Jr. worked with city solicitors to develop a proposed zoning amendment that would limit data centers to the Heavy Manufacturing (H-M) zoning district by means of a conditional use application. A conditional use approval means a case must come before City Council rather than the zoning hearing board.
One of the problems faced by all municipalities is that zoning ordinances must provide zones for all uses, so data centers cannot be banned outright. If a municipality’s zoning ordinance fails to address data centers, developers can make the case for proposing them with fewer boundaries in place to address residents’ concerns.
“This ordinance is being brought forth as a proactive measure to protect our land, our air, our water, but most importantly, it is to protect our residents,” Baez, a Democrat who represents District 2, said.
Being proactive includes understanding what would need to be regulated, he said.
“I understand, like any technology — whether it’s beepers, cell phones, computers — they evolve over time, right. And so, we need to be able to have the proper mechanism, or I want to say the proper regulations,” Baez said.
If a developer were to apply to build a data center in Reading, Baez said it’s important for the city’s zoning ordinance to outline requirements and put guardrails in place.
“We can’t just deny someone for building a manufacturing plant or a data center, but we can put in place certain regulations to ensure the safety of our water, so that means air studies, water studies, and just ensuring that we’re protecting our resources,” he said.
One of Baez’s main concerns is water.
“Those data centers, they use water to cool down their systems, so we want to make sure that we’re protecting that,” he said.
Baez said he would like to see the review of the proposed ordinance (see page 4) to be run concurrently with all the city departments to expediate the issue.
Curative amendment
Council solicitor Michael Gombar said another option for City Council would be to declare a curative amendment under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
Gombar explained the process involves identifying that the zoning ordinance in place is substantively defective, as data centers are not currently addressed.
A curative amendment would place a six-month moratorium on applications for data centers while the city takes that time to draft and negotiate a zoning amendment.
“It can provide the best of two worlds in that it creates this stay or this moratorium so that you’re not rushing to put anything in place to try to address a data center that may or may not be potentially developing within the city of Reading,” Gombar said. “It does allow you the flexibility that you’re not acting under urgent circumstances and maybe rushing to judgment when trying to put together an ordinance to address this.”
The City of Allentown recently declined to declare a curative amendment and instead adopted a zoning ordinance amendment.
But within a week, Allentown began the process of making amendments to the new zoning amendment, as many found it not strong enough.
Reading Community Development Director David Barr called a curative amendment a good compromise for working through the process.
Barr said the ordinance proposed by Baez was a very comprehensive and robust one, but he did not believe it was in the best interest of the city to attempt to have it addressed concurrently with all the necessary city departments.
“I didn’t think that would have allowed the proper thorough review that I think this deserves,” Barr said. “We want to do a good job at this, and I think this (a curative amendment) gives us the time to do that.”
Baez noted that one concern was the possibility of using the Dana South site at 1 Berkshire Plaza as a location of a data center, even though there has been no submission for such a proposal. The former Dana site was sold by the city to C&B Development LLC in March.
“Because of the amount of acres that there are, so when we look at the Dana site, which is about 49, it’s about 50 acres — that’s a perfect site for a data center,” Baez said. “I’m not saying that there will be one there, right, but if we’re not proactive, then we’re not keeping our residents safe.”
“This would be a perfect opportunity for anyone interested in a data center, and for me, it super important to protect our residents, to protect our city and our resources,” he said.
A week after a controversial vote to approve its data center regulations, Allentown City Council has begun the process to make changes to them.
Council President Donna Reed said she didn’t want to throw any shade on the developers who bought the property.
“There’s nothing accusatory here, but it’s reality that they in the past have improved infrastructure to make a property more marketable,” Reed said.
Gombar said council will be asked to approve the curative amendment resolution next Monday.
Reed noted that there were a number of audience members present, which is rare for a Committee of the Whole meeting, and that public comment is not permitted at such meetings but will be accepted at the start of the voting meeting next Monday night.
Legislators reminded everyone this is proactive work, before and if an application for a data center potentially comes in.