Dickson City to regulate data centers through zoning

Dickson City is the latest Midvalley community working to regulate data centers.

The borough will hold a public hearing Dec. 9 at 5:30 p.m. in the Borough Building, 901 Enterprise St., to solicit input on a proposed data center ordinance, according to a public notice published in The Sunday Times. The ordinance would make data centers special exceptions in Dickson City’s light manufacturing districts, requiring developers to testify at a public hearing in front of the Dickson City Zoning Hearing Board while adhering to criteria established in the legislation, according to a draft of the ordinance.

Dickson City’s light manufacturing zoning encompasses Enterprise Street near Eagle Lane and undeveloped land southeast of Railroad Street.

In the past year, the Midvalley has become a hotspot for data center proposals, not just in Lackawanna County, but across the state. Out of the nine data center proposals in Lackawanna County — one of which was withdrawn — eight were in the Midvalley. There are five proposed data center campuses in Archbald and two in Jessup. A developer also sought zoning relief to build a data center campus in Blakely but subsequently withdrew the proposal amid significant community opposition. The only non-Midvalley proposal is a large campus planned for Clifton and Covington townships along Interstate 380.

By scheduling a public hearing for its data center ordinance, Dickson City joins its Midvalley neighbors in Archbald, Blakely, Jessup and Olyphant in trying to regulate the rapidly expanding industry.

Jessup was the first community to adopt a data center zoning ordinance, on Aug. 19, followed by adopting a reamended zoning ordinance with adjusted boundary lines Nov. 5. Archbald considered a data center zoning ordinance Oct. 3, but council did not vote on the legislation after a motion to vote on the ordinance died without a second; Archbald will reconsider that zoning ordinance during a special meeting Nov. 24 at 5 p.m. at the Borough Building, 400 Church St.

Blakely Borough Council scheduled a public hearing on its data center ordinance for 6 p.m. Monday followed by plans for council to vote on the ordinance, according to meeting and public hearing agendas.

Olyphant is also working on data center zoning.

Dickson City’s proposed ordinance handles data centers differently from other Midvalley communities. While the other towns designate data centers as conditional uses, Dickson City instead classifies them as special exceptions. Conditional uses and special exceptions are comparable types of zoning designations that allow municipalities to establish criteria that developers must follow to receive approval, but the governing bodies overseeing them differ. Borough council considers conditional use requests, while the zoning hearing board considers special exceptions.

The draft legislation in Dickson City defines data centers as “a facility where digital data is stored and processed for access from the internet or other digital information pathways,” and it establishes criteria they must meet as special exceptions.

Those include: data centers must be sited with access to high-capacity electric substations to ensure reliable power; they must be set back at least 200 feet from residences or other noise-sensitive uses; they must be built on a minimum of 5 acres to ensure sufficient land area; they can be up to four stories tall; when using water cooling, they must have access to municipal sewer systems, on-site water treatment facilities or adequate drainage for wastewater, with preference given to sites with access to nonpotable water sources; generators and other power supply equipment must be fully enclosed to provide screening and reduce noise levels unless the zoning officer determines it isn’t feasible; data centers must provide evidence of coordination of fire protection with the local fire department while meeting all reasonable requests for training, equipment and information, as well as preparing a master firefighting plan; and they must provide a decommissioning plan for any energy supply systems, among other criteria.

The Dickson City Planning Commission worked on the ordinance for months, although the borough has not received any official submissions or even sketch plans for data centers, borough Manager Cesare Forconi said.

“The planning commission realized that these things weren’t specifically addressed in our current zoning ordinance, so they realized that we needed to put in the protections for the municipality and for the residents,” he said.

Dickson City adopted its current zoning ordinance in April 2012 and last amended it in August 2018, he said.

By allowing data centers as special exceptions in its light manufacturing zones, the borough will provide enough space to accommodate the use, but with the town having a footprint of only about 4 miles, they aren’t an industrial community with large industrial parks and warehouses, Forconi said.

“We don’t have that much open land,” Forconi said.

While there is land on Bell Mountain, Forconi said it’s zoned for residential and open space uses. He also noted the steep topography.

Jim Marzolino, the president of Kriger Construction who is involved with two Archbald data center projects and the withdrawn Blakely project, is also involved with a development on Bell Mountain that includes plans to build a Wawa.

Council has not decided if it will vote immediately following the conclusion of the Dec. 9 hearing, or at a later date, Forconi said.