The legislation<\/a> (see page 6) aims to establish specific regulations through standards and requirements for the construction, installation and ongoing operations of the facilities within the township’s borders. Monday night, the board received public comment on the laws, but did not tender any vote.<\/p>\nThe bill will navigate through the legislative process, with a vote coming at a date to be determined.<\/p>\n
“We have to think strategically about our future,” said Commissioner Taylor Stakes.<\/p>\n
The amendments involve several sections and tables. The category “data center use” is defined, along with the definitions of “artificial intelligence,” “cryptocurrency mining,” “data center,” “data center accessory use” “renewable energy” and others.<\/p>\n
Some of the data center definitions include that all data centers “shall be designed and\/or arranged to avoid detrimental impacts to high-value streams, wetlands, floodplain, steep slopes or other environmentally sensitive areas.” Another section notes all data center uses should be “designed and arranged so as to minimize disturbances to natural and unimproved land and shall encourage the preservation of mature trees and wooded areas.”<\/p>\n
Other amended areas involve dimensional requirements. For example, it establishes minimum lot size, minimum setback requirements, maximum building coverage, maximum building height and maximum impervious coverage. Some specifics in the amendments include a maximum building coverage of 40%, maximum building height of 50 feet and maximum impervious coverage at 70%.<\/p>\n
“I wish we could ban [artificial intelligence] hyper data centers,” resident Trish Keenan said. “But I realize that’s not legal.”<\/p>\n
Data center regulations across the Lehigh Valley<\/p>\n
Whitehall\u2019s proposed amendments follow the trend of multiple municipalities across the Lehigh Valley that have also recently updated ordinances regarding data centers. Those places include South Whitehall, North Whitehall, Upper Macungie and Lower Macungie and Lowhill townships.<\/p>\n
Some amendments approved in those municipalities include requiring applicants submit an annual report “providing detailed metrics” of the water used by the site, the amount of water dispersed from the site into the public sewer system, electricity drawn from the power grid for regular operations, and the amount of electricity drawn from emergency or supplemental generators.<\/p>\n
Other amendments dictate that noise and vibration studies be completed by the applicant and establish power supply standards along with the creation of an emergency response plan.<\/p>\n
In some cases, legislation defines the phrase “data center,” amends the use table, and creates additional requirements, such as emergency requirements, setbacks and buffers. Others further establish standards for noise, water use, sewage, electricity and environmental concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners meets on Aug. 10, 2026. WFMZ-TV | Steve Althouse WHITEHALL TWP., Pa.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1609,153,155,154,70749,1654],"class_list":["post-263254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-data-center-ordinance","tag-whitehall-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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