Cumru Township has become the first municipality in Berks County to officially pass a data center ordinance.
The new rules, approved by commissioners 3-1, regulate how and where developers can build data centers in the township.
Data centers contain the mass of hardware used to power cloud computing and artificial intelligence services.
Developers, often at the behest of companies like Amazon, Meta and Google, are increasingly seeking out rural areas to install the centers.
Cumru is among a handful of Berks municipalities with properties that have caught the eye of prospective data center developers.
“The purpose of this ordinance is not to encourage data centers in the township,” noted Kelsey Frankowski, Cumru solicitor, at a meeting April 21. “It will allow the board to have control over the development and implement many safeguards.”
Cumru officials noted that no data center plans have been formally submitted.
Cumru Township’s new rules establish a data center overlay district around the former Titus Station electrical generating plant property at Poplar Neck. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
It’s not legally possible for municipalities to exclude a type of land use, like data centers, so the best way to control it is through regulations, noted Frankowski.
Commissioners Tonya Campbell, Greg Miller and Mark Ferrero voted in favor of the data center rules.
Lisha Rowe voted no, and Andy Donnell was absent.
Rowe did not comment on her vote.
Miller noted the new rules establish a data center overlay district around the former Titus Station property.
The ordinance restricts data center development to that area.
In late 2025 there were talks with a developer about a possible data center on 171 acres at Route 10 and Freemansville Road, next to the Flying Hills development — where a warehouse had been proposed — but the new rules ban data centers there.
In late 2025 there were talks with a developer about a possible data center on 171 acres at Route 10 and Freemansville Road, next to the Flying Hills development, but new rules adopted by the Cumru Township commissioners would ban data centers there. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
The rules also set forth sweeping limits on noise, water and energy use and establish monitoring and enforcement mechanisms for those limits.
Some highlights include:
• Requiring screening and berms to limit visual and noise impacts.
• Setting a maximum height of 50 feet, or 80 feet with commissioners’ approval.
• Setting decibel limits for day and nighttime hours and requiring sound studies to confirm adherence.
• Requiring developers to cover the cost of any water, electric or sewer usage beyond what can be supported by existing systems.
• Requiring developers to prove that their utility usage won’t affect water supplies, cause outages or otherwise harm public health and safety.
• Requiring an environmental impact study, adequate emergency access and a plan for handling and disposing batteries and other hazardous materials.
• Requiring facility owners to decommission the facility within a year after it stops being used as a data center.
Data center ordinances are under development in several other Berks municipalities, including Caernarvon, South Heidelberg and Robeson townships.