Two proposed data centers will be on the agenda when the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s Comprehensive Planning Committee meets Tuesday afternoon.
At least one of the submissions is lacking several pieces of critical information, according to LVPC officials. It’s one of the projects planned for Allentown, located at 1024 N. Bradford St. next to Coca-Cola Park, home of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, and Executive Education Charter School.
The other under review is planned for Bethlehem at 2184 Industrial Drive in Lehigh Valley Industrial Park I, located near Lehigh Valley International Airport and next to the Route 378 onramp to Route 22 westbound.
The Comprehensive Planning Committee will discuss draft letters on the projects to respective city officials at its noon virtual meeting. If approved, the letters will then be voted on by the full LVPC at its meeting Thursday evening before being sent out.
Developer J.G. Petrucci presented plans for the 146,000-square-foot Allentown data center in August that will include an area for an electrical substation.
Jill Seitz, LVPC chief community and regional planner, indicated in the draft letter that the submission “does not include project-specific information describing the proposed facility’s operational characteristics.”
“Information was not provided identifying the cooling system, anticipated water demand, total electrical demand, standby generation, whether battery energy storage or other energy storage systems are proposed, mechanical equipment locations, anticipated noise and vibration levels, or heat rejection characteristics,” Seitz wrote.
Seitz said because of that, the LVPC cannot fully evaluate those impacts and whether the project aligns with FutureLV, the commission’s development master plan. Furthermore, she said when the developer provides more detailed information, the plans must be resubmitted to the LVPC for review.
“Overall, given the lack of information submitted with the application as identified in this review letter, the LVPC is unable to reach a conclusion on this proposal’s alignment with FutureLV,” Seitz wrote. “The LVPC strongly advises the city against approving land development plans without reviewing essential information about the operational conditions or impacts the project will generate.”
There are currently two data center proposals for Allentown, the other being at 2401 W. Emmaus Ave.
For the Bethlehem project, Boyle Construction has proposed a two-story building with about 65,590 square feet per floor. The plans also have a proposed substation and medium-voltage equipment area.
Unlike the Allentown proposal, “the applicant has provided supplemental information explaining how the facility would be cooled and powered, how much water and electricity it may use, what may generate noise, and how potential impacts may be reduced,” Seitz wrote in the draft letter. “The applicant has indicated that several important design details are still being finalized, and that additional technical documentation will be provided as the design advances.”
Even though the proposal is in an industrial park and near heavily traveled Route 22, it is still close enough to homes across the highway that potential additional noise and air emissions should still be analyzed.
“The applicant has taken several steps to address common data center impacts, including redeveloping an existing industrial site, proposing closed-loop immersion cooling, enclosing major equipment and planning additional technical studies,” Seitz said.
Also on the agenda are two more data center ordinances, from Bethlehem and Tatamy.
Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.