East Whiteland will revise its data center zoning ordinance, as the public pushes back on a 1.6 million-square-foot proposal
The process to revise their zoning ordinance will not affect a facility currently proposed for the township.
As public pushback continues to grow over a proposed 1.6 million-square-foot data center in East Whiteland, officials there will undergo a process to declare the township’s zoning ordinance regarding data centers invalid, and begin the process to revise it.
The “curative amendment” process, which allows municipalities to alter past zoning ordinances if it deems it substantively invalid, will not affect the data center project that sits before the township’s board of supervisors now, where developers are seeking to expand the proposed center’s footprint by 60%.
But that project, and the growing public sentiment against it, is certainly at the center of why officials in the Chester County township are deciding to revisit the zoning ordinance that allowed such a project.
“We have heard the concerns of our residents through the planning commission discussions, many submitted comments and emails and other public input,” the board’s chairman Scott Lambert said during Tuesday’s special meeting regarding the curative process.
The board voted unanimously Tuesday night to begin the curative process, which will temporarily pause the acceptance of any new data center applications for up to 180 days. The township will draft regulations to update its zoning ordinance around data centers, which will then go to the planning commission and board of supervisors for review by the end of that six-month window. During the meeting, residents repeatedly asked to be part of that process, which the township hasn’t yet decided on.
The township plans to update its zoning ordinance to “ensure that it is clear and specific, that it is legally compliant with the Pennsylvania municipals planning code, .... fair to all property owners and protective of the community’s health, safety and welfare,” said Lambert.
“I think this is an important process,” board supervisor Peter Fixler said at the meeting. “The supervisors are kind of caught in this in-between-time of how to, and how not to, regulate the potential for another data center and where it should be in the township. So this is a very good thing to be doing.”
Residents — who for months in protest have donned t-shirts, made lawn signs, printed banners, and shown up in large numbers to municipal meetings — commended the board for taking the action.
“I am so proud to be an East Whiteland citizen today,” said resident Kelly Donia, who in previous public comments has asked the town to pause data center approvals. “We want to, of course, support building and commerce and so forth and technology. But at the same time, we need to protect ourselves, so it’s a really exciting/scary, tentative time.”
Donia, like many of the speakers Tuesday evening, lives in Malvern Hunt, a residential community with roughly 280 homes. The proposed data center facility, which would exceed 1.6 million square feet in an amended plan currently before township officials, would sit across the street from the neighborhood, at 13 S. Bacton Hill Rd., located along the boundary line for East and West Whiteland Townships.
“I just want you to imagine, right now, in Malvern Hunt: Quiet,” Anagha Kapsi, another resident, told the board. “You can hear the birds chirping, you can hear cars on the road, and you can hear the wind blowing, but when this data center arrives, this natural peace will be lost and the overall quality of life decreases.”
Residents have worried about the data center’s impact on the environment and the power grid, and its noise levels. Developers for the proposed East Whiteland data center have sought to assuage these concerns, arguing they’re cleaning up a Superfund site and restoring it to productive use.
An earlier version of the project was originally approved by the township’s planning commission in 2024, but it has been underway since 2018, when the developer sought zoning changes to OK data center use.
But times have changed since those earlier approvals: Across the state, communities are far more aware of data centers, and they are loudly pushing back against them. An East Whiteland planning commission meeting had to be postponed after more attendees showed up than the room could hold. Outspoken advocacy in North Coventry halted one project before it was even submitted to the township.
As residents press local officials to strike down the proposals, municipal leaders have cautioned that they’re in a bind, arguing that they have to allow for all types of uses within the municipality, including data centers, but have the ability to regulate what they look like.
“I appreciate everyone’s being involved here … with the positive comments, comments that will help us craft this new curative,” Lambert said. “A lot of good points, a lot of knowledge out there, a lot of spirit on the internet, and spirit in the room for East Whiteland Township.”
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