Archbald will consider applying stricter zoning to data centers next month as developers look to build more than 18 million square feet of the high-tech facilities throughout the town.
Borough council voted Wednesday to allow its solicitor to draft, advertise and hold a public hearing to amend Archbald’s 2-year-old zoning ordinance to better address data centers. The amendment would update definitions relating to data centers and reclassify them from principally permitted uses to conditional uses, which would give borough officials a stronger say in their development. By making data centers a conditional use, borough officials could effectively apply stricter requirements to them compared to their current principally permitted use classification.
For principally permitted uses, the borough’s zoning officer will issue a permit if a developer’s zoning application meets all of the requirements contained in Archbald’s zoning ordinance, according to the zoning ordinance, which the borough adopted in March 2023.
By comparison, conditional uses require written approval from borough council following a hearing, according to the zoning ordinance. That means data center developers would have to attend a public hearing, which would be advertised in The Times-Tribune’s legal notices, where borough officials and residents could ask questions, and should council decide to approve the conditional use, borough officials could tie conditions to their approval.
If data centers become conditional uses, council could set conditions addressing items like noise, light, setback distances from property lines and “possibly some other conditions that would help ensure that the data center building owners and the borough’s residential districts will be able to happily coexist,” borough Manager Dan Markey said.
Archbald’s current zoning ordinance does not define data centers, data center accessory uses or data center accessory structures, Markey said.
“That’s something that the council is looking to clarify through the amendment of the zoning ordinance,” he said.
To navigate the zoning process for data centers, Markey said Archbald hired engineering consulting firm Pennoni, which will give the town recommendations for specific conditions that could apply to data centers. The conditions have to be related to the use, and they must be reasonable, he said.
The move toward stricter zoning comes amid a flurry of data center proposals and interest in the borough.
So far, Archbald has had at least two data center campuses proposed along its Business Route 6 corridor near the high-voltage power lines that run through the valley.
The borough was approached during a January council work session by a firm looking to invest an estimated $2.1 billion for a massive “Wildcat Ridge AI Data Center Campus” totaling 17.2 million square feet, plus about 1.2 million square feet of commercial space, across nearly 400 mountainside acres along Business Route 6 and Wildcat Road, or Route 247. That development would encompass 394 acres bounded by a PPL access road across from Terrace Drive to its west, continuing east along Business Route 6 until its split with Wildcat Road, and then moving up Wildcat for more than half a mile. The data center campus would consist of 14 three-story-tall data center buildings, each with a 126,500-square-foot footprint, according to conceptual plans for the project.
Earlier this month, a New York City developer submitted a sketch plan ahead of the borough’s April 2 planning commission meeting for a second data center campus known as “Project Gravity.” Although smaller than the first proposed data center, Project Gravity would be built on just over 186 acres between Business Route 6 and the Eynon Jermyn Road, with entrances on either road. A sketch plan for the project, which The Times-Tribune acquired via a Right to Know Law request filed with the borough, calls for at least six two-story data center buildings, each with a 135,000-square-foot footprint. Just the six data center buildings alone, without any other infrastructure, total 810,000 square feet.
Sketch plans for the proposed “Project Gravity” data center campus in Archbald, obtained via Right-to-Know Law request.
Markey anticipates holding the public hearing on the same night as Archbald’s next council meeting, which is scheduled for May 21 at 6 p.m. The hearing would take place before the meeting, he said. Council meets inside the Archbald Borough Building, 400 Church St.