S. WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. – A proposal for a massive data center campus in South Whitehall Twp. is going under the microscope.
Next week, the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC) will discuss its initial review of the plans, first at a meeting of its comprehensive planning committee on January 20, and then during its full commission meeting on January 22.
A draft review posted on the LVPC’s website offers new details about the proposal from Atlas Industrial, as well as concerns the agency’s planners have about it.
Plans call for six data center buildings totaling 5,038,100 square feet spread across 410 acres. The project site’s address is 2493 N. Cedar Crest Blvd.
The land is currently undeveloped agricultural fields. Parkland High School is to the west, across N. Cedar Crest Blvd. A chemical manufacturing company is to the south. There are homes to the north, and more agricultural fields to the east.
Proposed site of Atlas Industrial data center in S. Whitehall Twp.
LVPC
The LVPC notes that the property is currently identified for farmland preservation in its comprehensive planning guide, FutureLV: The Regional Plan. But, South Whitehall Twp. included the parcel in its newly created Planned Innovation, Research, and Technology (PIRT) Overlay District, which was designed specifically to address the noise, energy and environmental impacts associated with projects like data centers.Â
The LVPC review doesn’t include specifics on how big each building on the data center campus would be. But the township’s PIRT parameters say the maximum building height would be 50 feet, and the maximum footprint would be 500,000 square feet.
The review addresses several potential impacts of the project, including the noise it will generate.
“The proposed site layout orients the yards containing generator equipment away from (Parkland High School), and sound attenuation walls are also proposed along the generator equipment areas,” planners wrote. They recommend studies to make sure noise levels don’t exceed 55 decibels, “or at a level acceptable to the Township.”
Planners also noted the extensive presence of karsts (surface depressions) throughout the site: “Hyperscale data centers involve significant concentrations of structural and equipment loading, which has the potential to exacerbate subsurface voids or contribute to land gradually caving in throughout the area.”
As for the project’s potential impact on the local power grid, the LVPC said that’s something being discussed by the developer and PPL. The developer has proposed adding (and footing the bill for) a substation and additional infrastructure upgrades.
Potential emissions were another concern cited in the review; planners recommend the developer use generators that meet the strictest Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards (Tier 4), rather than what’s currently proposed (Tier 2).Â
A traffic impact study submitted shows the data center campus would generate an average of 3,865 weekday trips. “These average weekday trips include 371 new trips during morning peak and 265 new trips during evening peak times,” the LVPC said.
The proposal includes plans for a new road that would connect N. Cedar Crest Blvd. opposite Parkland High School’s driveway to Mauch Chunk Rd., just south of the existing Mechanicsville Rd. intersection.
Both LVPC meetings next week can be accessed remotely via the LVPC’s website.Â