After months of increasingly heated neighborhood pushback, East Whiteland’s board of supervisors has hit pause on new data center projects, buying itself up to 180 days to rewrite the local rulebook.
On Tuesday, the board voted to declare parts of the township’s data center zoning “substantively invalid” and to launch a curative amendment. In plain English, that means no new data center applications will be accepted for as long as six months while officials overhaul the code. The move comes on the heels of a contentious proposal to enlarge an already approved facility to roughly 1.6 million square feet, about a 60 percent jump from the earlier design. Supervisors say the timeout is meant to make the ordinance clearer and more defensible while still balancing property rights with community health, safety and welfare.
Board launches curative amendment
At a special meeting, supervisors unanimously agreed to start the curative process and start a six-month clock to craft new zoning language. As reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the declaration stops the township from taking in fresh data center applications while staff prepares updated language for the zoning code. The draft is expected to go first to the planning commission and then back to the board before the 180-day window runs out.
Chair: residents' concerns shaped the move
Board chair Scott Lambert told PHILADELPHIA.Today that supervisors had “heard the concerns of our residents” and want the ordinance to be clear, legally compliant and protective of public health. He said the changes are intended to be fair to property owners while giving the township the tools it needs to regulate very large facilities. Other supervisors noted that the size and intensity of public turnout made the timing of a rewrite essentially unavoidable.
Neighbors turned out in force
Residents have been packing planning meetings for months, so many that one session had to be moved to an auditorium at Penn State’s Great Valley campus. Neighbors pressed elected officials on potential noise, water use and strain on the power grid. As NBC10 Philadelphia reported, people living across from the proposed site near the Malvern Hunt neighborhood worried the massive complex could drag down home values and drive up utility bills. That sustained public pressure was a central factor in the supervisors’ decision to pause new filings.
The site and the expanded plan
The amended application on the table would place two data buildings on roughly 100 acres at 13 S. Bacton Hill Road, straddling the East and West Whiteland boundary. The expansion would bring the total campus to more than 1.6 million square feet. Developers say their plan would remediate a previously contaminated parcel and includes several design tweaks, such as swapping some cooling equipment for waterless chillers and turning loading areas to face Swedesford Road. According to VISTA.Today and local filings, the revised proposal would remove certain towers while increasing the project’s footprint by about 60 percent compared with the original approval.
What the law requires
Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, “Within 180 days from the date of the declaration and proposal, the municipality shall enact a curative amendment” unless it pursues another legal route. The curative process gives municipalities a formal way to repair zoning language that is considered substantively invalid while limiting copycat challenges by landowners during the fix. PHILADELPHIA.Today notes that supervisors do not expect the declaration to automatically void the application that is already before the board.
Next steps
Township staff will now draft amendment language, which the planning commission will review before supervisors decide whether to adopt it within the six-month window. Developers can keep working on matters tied to the existing application, but new data center proposals will be held until the ordinance is updated. VISTA.Today reports that residents want a real seat at the table as the rewrite moves forward, signaling that the crowds at township meetings are unlikely to thin out anytime soon.
