The lack of details included in an application to build a data center at the former Air Products headquarters site in Upper Macungie Township did not sit well with members of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission’s Comprehensive Planning Committee during Tuesday’s virtual meeting.

Introduced by Air Products just before the township passed a zoning ordinance for data centers, committee members wondered about such things as water and power usage along with how the 2.6 million-square-foot complex on 194 acres at 7300 Cetronia Road would affect local residents.

The draft letter approved by the committee, which will be voted on by the full LVPC at Thursday’s meeting, had several questions about the project.

“This is clearly a spaghetti-on-the-wall proposal,” committee member John Gallagher said. “It was just thrown together. I don’t think the developer really knows what they want to do here.

“I don’t know if they can build a data center on speculation,” said Gallagher, a Bethlehem Township commissioner. “But it’s the same kind of thing we saw with warehouses and we continue to see with warehouses.”

LVPC Executive Director Becky Bradley said the organization only has 30 days to review the project and make recommendations to the township, which will have the final say. She said with the Dec. 4 adoption of Upper Macungie’s ordinance, the developer may not want to comply with all of the provisions.

“It may be the reason why we’re seeing a plan that lacks sufficient detail to make an educated determination on many of the questions that you would typically ask for a land use of this type and size and scale,” Bradley said.

The data center plan is similar to the previous warehouse plan for the site in that it will consist of three buildings. The biggest building would be 1.23 million square feet and stand along the west side of the property. The second building would be 926,250 square feet, and the smallest 435,600 square feet.

The two biggest issues are a lack of coordination with PPL and the Lehigh County Authority. The letter, authored by LVPC Chief Community Planner Jillian Seitz and Environmental Planner Susan Myerov, had a lengthy list of questions about usage and waste disposal.

The LVPC said the LCA has yet to be approached to determine if capacity is available. Current plans call for 95,000 gallons of water to be used daily, but that’s when the plan was for warehouses.

Committee Chair Stephen Melnick had a few of his own questions.

“This past year, we’ve had a number of storms in the Lehigh Valley that resulted in outages in various areas,” Melnick said. “What happens if there’s a power outage in the vicinity of this project? Are there provisions for auxiliary power included in this?

“Getting back to water usage. Where I lived, … there was a broken water line and we were out of water for three days. What if something like that happens in the vicinity of this project? What happens to all the equipment?”

An Air Products spokesperson said the company believes it has met the township’s requirements for a land use development plan submission.

“We submitted to preserve flexibility and optionality for future redevelopment of the site,” spokesperson Art George said. “At this early stage, it is normal for certain details to be addressed as the process advances. We continue to market different options for the site while working closely with the Township to follow UMT’s land development process.”

Upper Macungie resident Beth Livensperger asked if there were a way to slow down the process. Lehigh County Commissioner Ron Beitler said developers have the upper hand under state law and any changes must come from Harrisburg.

Beitler was especially concerned about fire safety for data centers, considering the use of industrial sized batteries, and what burden it may place on municipalities that will likely have to spend money to update firefighting equipment.

The LVPC will be reviewing another large data center at January’s meeting. The project is in South Whitehall Township, which is writing its own ordinance.

Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.