September 26, 2025
This week, we saw multiple municipalities reviewing their zoning ordinances related to the proposed data center along with progress being made on the proposed PPL Substation.
Middlesex Township
Sept 22 – Planning Commission Meeting
- The Planning Commission took a trip to a data center campus in Loudon County, VA with Powerhouse as their host last week. You can read a writeup by Larry Claycomb below. Barb Gleim also covered it in her Barb Wire.
- The New Substation Laydown was recommended to the Board of Supervisors for approval
- Previous representatives of Data Center Partners, Justin Ross and Andrew who had been at previous meetings were not present.
- A new substation is, ultimately, necessary for overall grid reliability on our already stressed grid. However, it also indicates the start of real buildout for building the data center. PCCPA will be posting information on how these two projects are related soon.
Sept 26 – Board of Supervisors Meeting
- The Middlesex Board of Supervisors approved the laydown with 9 waivers for the PPL Substation. There was no public comment specific to this issue.
Silver Spring Township
Sept 24 – Board of Supervisors Meeting
- Solicitor Sean Shultz drafted the ordinance based on the Penn Future model, along with elements from Straban Township and their own zoning ordinance provisions for uses in the I-2 (Heavy Industrial) zone where it places Data Centers. This initial draft places data centers in the I-2 as a conditional use where they’d already be permitted say conditional use without regulations as they have a catch-all “all other nonresidential uses” use listed in their I-2.
- The Board asked for the draft to be restructured to apply most of the added criteria to the I-2 generally and still keep days centers in that zone. The draft ordinance has not yet been made available to the public, and the requested changes will likely take a while. The vote on the ordinance will likely be scheduled for the 1/28/26 meeting.
Hampden Township
Sept 25 – Board of Commissioners Meeting
- Many folks from both Hampden and neighboring municipalities showed up to be heard and informed, with many speaking out about the detrimental effects of data centers. No members of the public present gave testimony in favor of the data center. This meeting became standing room only, with some attendees listening in from outside the meeting room.
- Hampden Township petition against office park data centers was presented with over 300 signatures.
- The public hearing started at approximately 8:00 PM and the motion to deny approval of the proposed zoning ordinance for data centers was unanimously accepted just before 10:00 PM. One resident asked about a timeline for revisiting the ordinance, but the commissioners did not provide that information at that time.
- One big take away from this and other munincipal meetings, is that our resources are shared resources. Many residents would like to see all the communities in Cumberland County, across Pennsylvania, and even federally talking more about data centers and coordinating their approach.
CALLS TO ACTION:
- The survey for Team PA’s 10-year EDC/AI Roadmap is still available here. Let Team PA know how you feel about the development of data centers in PA.
- Keep an eye on the agendas for the Middlesex BOS meeting on October 1 and North Middleton BOS meeting on October 2 to show up if data centers are up for discussion.
- Continue to watch for the North Middleton draft ordinance posting and October or November hearing announcement.
Larry Claycomb’s write-up: