Curative amendment<\/p>\n
Council solicitor Michael Gombar said another option for City Council would be to declare a curative amendment under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.<\/p>\n
Gombar explained the process involves identifying that the zoning ordinance in place is substantively defective, as data centers are not currently addressed.<\/p>\n
A curative amendment would place a six-month moratorium on applications for data centers while the city takes that time to draft and negotiate a zoning amendment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can provide the best of two worlds in that it creates this stay or this moratorium so that you’re not rushing to put anything in place to try to address a data center that may or may not be potentially developing within the city of Reading,\u201d Gombar said. \u201cIt does allow you the flexibility that you’re not acting under urgent circumstances and maybe rushing to judgment when trying to put together an ordinance to address this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The City of Allentown recently declined to declare a curative amendment and instead adopted a zoning ordinance amendment.<\/p>\n
But within a week, Allentown began the process of making amendments to the new zoning amendment, as many found it not strong enough.<\/p>\n
Reading Community Development Director David Barr called a curative amendment a good compromise for working through the process.<\/p>\n
Barr said the ordinance proposed by Baez was a very comprehensive and robust one, but he did not believe it was in the best interest of the city to attempt to have it addressed concurrently with all the necessary city departments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t think that would have allowed the proper thorough review that I think this deserves,\u201d Barr said. \u201cWe want to do a good job at this, and I think this (a curative amendment) gives us the time to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baez noted that one concern was the possibility of using the Dana South site at 1 Berkshire Plaza as a location of a data center, even though there has been no submission for such a proposal. The former Dana site was sold by the city to C&B Development LLC in March.<\/p>\n
“Because of the amount of acres that there are, so when we look at the Dana site, which is about 49, it’s about 50 acres \u2014 that’s a perfect site for a data center,\u201d Baez said. \u201cI’m not saying that there will be one there, right, but if we’re not proactive, then we’re not keeping our residents safe.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThis would be a perfect opportunity for anyone interested in a data center, and for me, it super important to protect our residents, to protect our city and our resources,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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