The terms of doing business in this valley.

Definitions, threshold, and applicability.

This ordinance applies to any “Data Center,” defined as a building or buildings, or portion thereof, primarily used to house computer servers and associated equipment for the storage, processing, and distribution of large amounts of data, including ancillary cooling, power conditioning, switchgear, backup generation, and substation infrastructure.

Threshold

The provisions of this ordinance apply to any data center whose gross floor area equals or exceeds 100,000 square feet, or whose continuous IT load equals or exceeds 10 megawatts.

Permitted districts

• Data centers shall be a permitted use only in I‑1 (Limited Industrial) and I‑2 (General Industrial) districts.
• Co-located energy generation accessory to a permitted data center shall be permitted in the same districts subject to § 5.
• Data centers shall not be permitted in any residential, agricultural, conservation, or commercial district, by-right or by special exception.

Lot size, setbacks, and separation from sensitive uses.

Each data center shall meet all of the following dimensional requirements, in addition to those of the underlying zoning district:

§ 2.2 — Scaled buffer yards (size-graduated)

In addition to the property-line and sensitive-receptor setbacks above, the following buffer yard shall be established and continuously maintained along any boundary that abuts the indicated use category. Buffer yards are measured inward from the property line and shall be additive to (not substitutable for) the setbacks in § 2.1.

Buffer yards shall be composed of one or more of the following, sufficient to provide year-round visual and acoustic screening: (a) evergreen landscaping in staggered rows; (b) earthen berms a minimum of 10 feet in height with side slopes no steeper than 3:1; (c) opaque fencing or masonry walls a minimum of 8 feet in height; or (d) a combination thereof. Emergency generators, transformers, chillers, loading areas, and major mechanical equipment shall not be located within a required buffer yard. The developer shall continuously maintain all buffer plantings and shall replace dead, diseased, or damaged landscaping in kind within one (1) growing season of identification.

§ 2.3 — Conditional setback reduction

The 1,000-foot separation from residential uses, residential districts, and sensitive receptors may be reduced to no less than 500 feet only if the applicant successfully demonstrates all of the following to the satisfaction of the municipal engineer:

• Property-line sound levels do not exceed ambient noise for the area, measured per § 4.
• Visual screening and architectural treatment exceed the standards of § 6.
• No thermal air change attributable to the facility affects the nearest sensitive receptor.

§ 2.4 — Sensitive receptors defined

• Schools, daycares, hospitals, and assisted-living facilities.
• Public parks, designated trails, and protected lands.
• Watercourses designated High-Quality or Exceptional Value by PADEP.
• State Game Lands, State Forest, and Wild Trout streams.

Closed-loop cooling, water studies, and drought response.

§ 3.1 — Cooling system requirement

• Data centers shall be designed to include a closed-loop water circulation system for cooling.
• The applicant may propose an alternative cooling system only if it can be demonstrated to use less water and less energy than a closed-loop system, to the satisfaction of the municipal engineer.
• No principal use on a data center site shall use private groundwater wells or direct withdrawals from surface watercourses as its primary cooling water source if a public water source is available within reasonable connection distance.

§ 3.2 — Water feasibility study (required when public water is unavailable)

The study shall include, at minimum:

• Calculation of projected water needs, including seasonal fluctuations.
• Geologic map covering a radius of at least one (1) mile from the property boundary.
• Inventory of all existing and proposed wells within 1,000 feet of the property boundary, with high-yield well capacities.
• Inventory of all surface waters within 1,000 feet of the property boundary and known point sources of pollution.
• Determination of long-term safe yield and demonstration of no adverse impact to nearby wells, streams, or the groundwater table.
• Description of how water will be recycled, treated, or released into surrounding water bodies.
• Signature and qualifications of the licensed professional preparing the study.

§ 3.3 — Permits required prior to land development approval

• PADEP — Water Quality Management permit (if applicable).
• Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) — water withdrawal and consumptive-use approvals. (All of Lycoming County lies within the Susquehanna basin; no DRBC review applies.)
• PADEP / Lycoming County Conservation District — Chapter 102 NPDES permit for stormwater discharges associated with construction activities (required for earth disturbance of one acre or more), including the Erosion & Sediment Control Plan and the Post-Construction Stormwater Management (PCSM) Plan.
• PADEP — Chapter 105 Water Obstruction and Encroachment permit, where stream, wetland, or floodway impacts are proposed.
• Documented capacity letter from the public water authority, if relied upon.

§ 3.4 — Drought response plan

The applicant shall submit a written drought-response plan demonstrating compliance with state, water-supplier, and local drought-declaration requirements. Plan shall include curtailment triggers, interruptible-supply provisions, and reporting protocols.

§ 3.5 — Wastewater

• Untreated wastewater shall not be discharged to stormwater systems or surface waters.
• Wastewater analysis shall include all sewage and water discharged as part of the HVAC system.
• Pretreatment by dilution is expressly prohibited.

Property-line sound limits and required noise studies.

§ 4.1 — Sound levels at the property line

§ 4.2 — Pre-construction noise study

The applicant shall submit a baseline-ambient noise study, performed by a qualified acoustical engineer, prior to land development approval. The study shall characterize ambient noise at all property lines during representative day and night conditions across a 7-day measurement window.

§ 4.3 — Post-occupancy noise study

A post-construction noise study shall be conducted no sooner than 1 month and no later than 12 months after the first Certificate of Occupancy. Results shall be filed with the municipality. Any exceedance shall be cured within 90 days or the facility shall reduce operating load to a compliant level.

§ 4.4 — Mitigation methods

Acceptable means of achieving compliance include sound-absorbing or sound-blocking structures, equipment enclosures, earthen berms, increased setbacks, and selection of lower-noise equipment. The means is at the applicant’s discretion; the result is not.

Backup generation, on-site generation, and grid interconnection.

§ 5.1 — Backup generators (gas-primary)

• Primary standby generation shall be lean-burn, spark-ignited natural gas (or renewable natural gas) gen sets fueled via firm-contract pipeline supply. Units shall meet U.S. EPA Tier 4 final equivalent emission limits, which lean-burn natural gas engines achieve without exhaust aftertreatment (no SCR or DPF required).
• Each facility shall maintain a firm gas-transportation contract with an interstate or intrastate pipeline operator. Where two independent pipeline laterals are feasible (Williams Transco, UGI, Sunoco/Energy Transfer, or Tennessee Gas all cross Lycoming), dual-feed redundancy is required; where only one lateral is available, applicant shall demonstrate redundancy through on-site backup fuel reserve under § 5.1(d).
• Diesel generators are permitted only as a secondary fuel-of-last-resort for pipeline-outage scenarios. Any diesel unit shall meet U.S. EPA Tier 4 final emission standards with selective catalytic reduction and diesel particulate filter aftertreatment, shall be limited to no more than 72 hours of full-load autonomy on-site fuel storage, and shall not exceed 20% of total backup nameplate capacity unless the applicant provides a written engineering finding that natural gas primary plus on-site LNG/CNG reserve cannot meet the facility’s reliability tier (Uptime Institute Tier III/IV or equivalent).
• On-site backup fuel reserve. Each facility shall maintain on-site backup fuel (LNG, CNG, propane, or diesel under the cap above) sized to cover the longest credible pipeline-outage event for the region — currently established at 72 hours based on PHMSA pipeline-incident data for the Marcellus corridor — at full data-center load.
• Fossil-fuel emergency generation shall be used only when the primary source of power is unavailable due to an emergency outage.
• Routine maintenance and readiness testing is capped at 100 hours per year for natural gas units and 50 hours per year for diesel reserve units, restricted to 9:00 am through 3:00 pm Monday through Friday.
• Annual emissions reports (NOx, CO, VOC, PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, formaldehyde, CO₂e) for all generators shall be filed with the municipality and posted to the operator’s public dashboard under § 9.2.6.
• Use of generators for peak shaving or for supplying power to the grid is expressly prohibited.

Commentary. The gas-primary requirement leverages Lycoming’s direct Marcellus access while cutting NOx, particulates, and CO₂ relative to a diesel-primary design. Caterpillar’s 1.5 MW Fast Response gas gen set (Oct 2025) reaches NFPA 110 Level 1 Type 10 cold-start in 6.5–7.5 seconds with 100% block-load acceptance — closing the historical transient-response gap with diesel. Lycoming sits inside the EPA ozone and PM attainment zone, so a gas-engine permit path is straightforward.

§ 5.2 — On-site generation (if proposed)

Where the applicant proposes co-located energy generation (natural gas turbine, fuel cell, solar, battery storage):

• Recommended: 50–80% of all unused roof space dedicated to solar arrays.
• Recommended: battery storage equal to 50–100% of total onsite back-up energy needs.
• Energy generation systems shall be located, designed, and shielded so the principal data center building lies between the generator and any residential district or sensitive receptor.

§ 5.3 — Substations and on-site lines

• On-site substations shall be located on the side or rear of the principal building, screened from public view, and not in a required front yard.
• On-site power lines rated 34.5 kV and below shall be buried.
• Burying higher-voltage on-site lines is strongly encouraged where feasible.

Architecture, screening, and fencing.

§ 6.1 — Building articulation

• Principal-building facades shall include a horizontal offset of at least 10 feet at intervals no greater than 150 linear feet.
• No more than 80% of any principal-building facade shall consist of one building material, color, texture, or pattern.
• Principal-building facades shall include fenestration, step-backs, cantilevers, projections, or architectural elements extending horizontally across at least 60% of the facade.
• Each principal building shall include an articulated main entrance.
• Elevations and renderings of all principal-building facades visible from off-site shall be submitted at the time of land-development application.

§ 6.2 — Roof equipment

Roof-mounted equipment shall be set back from the parapet at least as far as the equipment’s height above the roof surface.

§ 6.3 — Visual screening of substations

Where an electric-utility substation is visible from an arterial roadway, the applicant shall provide a combination of year-round opaque landscaping and screening walls sufficient to minimize visual impact.

§ 6.4 — Fencing

• Perimeter fencing shall not include barbed or razor wire.
• All fencing shall be subject to the underlying municipal fence standards.
• Security gatehouses are exempt from front-yard setback minimums.
• Battery storage, electrical substations, on-site power generation equipment, and fuel storage shall be enclosed by security fencing a minimum of 8 feet in height with controlled vehicular and pedestrian access.

§ 6.5 — Equipment placement

• Data Center Electrical Substations and all major mechanical equipment shall be located to the side or rear of the principal building. No substation, transformer pad, chiller yard, fuel-tank farm, or generator yard shall be located within a required front yard or between the principal building and the primary street frontage.
• Substations and ground-mounted mechanical equipment shall be screened by year-round opaque landscaping and, where visible from an arterial roadway or residential property, a screening wall sufficient to break the equipment’s visual line from off-site receptors.
• Service, loading, and refuse areas shall include a vegetative buffer or landscaped strip not less than 10 feet in width along property boundaries.
• On-site utility distribution lines and feeder lines serving the property shall be installed underground to the maximum extent practicable.

§ 6.6 — Lighting plan

• A photometric lighting plan shall be submitted with the land-development application, prepared by a licensed engineer or qualified lighting professional, identifying fixture specifications, mounting heights, illuminance contours, and glare-control measures.
• All exterior fixtures shall be full-cutoff, downward-directed with a maximum correlated color temperature of 3,000 K.
• Spill at any property line abutting a residential use, residential district, sensitive receptor, or public road shall not exceed 0.1 footcandle at grade.
• Non-essential exterior lighting shall be reduced or extinguished between 11:00 pm and 5:00 am, security and emergency egress lighting excepted.

Financial security, timing, and end-of-life obligations.

§ 7.1 — Financial surety

Prior to issuance of a building permit, the applicant shall post financial security in a form acceptable to the municipal solicitor (surety bond, irrevocable letter of credit, or cash escrow) equal to 125% of the estimated cost of demolition, site restoration, and lawful disposal of all equipment, hazardous materials, and refrigerants.

• Proof of bond — annual. The owner shall file written proof that the financial security remains in full force and effect with the municipal secretary every twelve (12) months from issuance of the certificate of occupancy, and within thirty (30) days of any change in developer, owner, or facility operator. Lapse of proof for more than sixty (60) days is a violation under § 10 and may trigger draw under § 7.1.
• Annual escalator. The surety amount shall be escalated annually based on the Engineering News-Record Construction Cost Index, or successor index.
• Five-year full re-estimate. A complete third-party re-estimate of decommissioning cost shall be prepared at the owner’s expense by a qualified professional engineer not less often than every five (5) years, reviewed by the municipal engineer, and the bond adjusted upward to maintain the 125% coverage if the re-estimate so requires.
• Change-of-control trigger. Any sale, assignment, lease, merger, foreclosure, or other transfer that results in a new beneficial owner or operator shall require the successor to post a replacement bond or letter of credit naming the successor as principal within sixty (60) days of the transfer; the prior bond shall not be released until the replacement is in place.
• No certificate of occupancy shall be issued until the surety is in place.
• The surety shall be released only upon completion and inspection of decommissioning per § 7.3.

§ 7.2 — Triggers and adaptive reuse

An end-of-data-center-use event shall be deemed to occur upon the earlier of:

• Cessation of data-center operations for a continuous period of twelve (12) months, or
• Formal written notice from the operator that the facility will no longer be used as a data center.

An end-of-use event triggers the obligations in § 7.3 below. It does not automatically require demolition of the buildings. Pennsylvania industrial property routinely transitions between uses, and the buildings, foundations, utility service, and substation capacity at a former data center will typically have meaningful value to a successor industrial, logistics, light-manufacturing, R&D, or institutional occupant. This ordinance favors adaptive reuse where it is lawful, safe, and consistent with the underlying zoning district.

§ 7.3 — Owner obligations following an end-of-use event

Within twelve (12) months of an end-of-use event, the owner shall do one or more of the following, in any combination:

1. Convert to a permitted reuse. Submit a land-development or change-of-use application for a use permitted in the underlying zoning district. While that application is pending and during build-out of the approved reuse, the property is not subject to demolition under this section, provided the surety in § 7.1 remains in force.
2. Actively market the property for sale or lease as an industrial / commercial reuse opportunity, evidenced by a written marketing plan filed with the municipal engineer and updated annually. This option may be exercised for up to three (3) years from the end-of-use event before § 7.4 demolition obligations attach.
3. Decommission the site under § 7.4.

Throughout any period under option (1) or (2), the owner shall maintain the property in safe, secure, weather-tight condition; shall remove and lawfully dispose of all refrigerants, lithium-ion batteries, dielectric fluids, lubricants, fuels, and other regulated materials within 180 days of the end-of-use event (regardless of whether reuse is pursued); and shall keep the § 7.1 surety in force.

§ 7.4 — Decommissioning (where no reuse is achieved)

If no permitted reuse has been approved and substantially commenced within the timelines in § 7.3, the owner shall complete decommissioning within eighteen (18) months thereafter, unless extended for good cause shown. The scope of decommissioning is:

• Removal of all data-center-specific equipment (servers, racks, in-row cooling, UPS, switchgear, transformers, generators, fuel and gas piping not retained for reuse).
• Removal of any structure that is unsafe, structurally compromised, or for which no permitted reuse is reasonably foreseeable; structures suitable for reuse may be retained at the owner’s election with the concurrence of the municipal engineer.
• Where a structure is removed, removal of foundations to a depth of at least four (4) feet below finished grade.
• Lawful disposal or recycling of refrigerants, batteries, lubricants, regulated fluids, and other regulated materials not previously removed under § 7.3.
• Restoration of any disturbed land to a stable, vegetated condition compatible with the underlying zoning district.

Commentary. Data-center buildings are essentially well-engineered industrial shells with abundant power, fiber, water, and stormwater infrastructure already in place — assets that are valuable to a wide range of successor uses. This section treats the § 7.1 surety as insurance against an owner who walks away, not as a presumption that the buildings themselves must come down. The reuse pathway is the preferred outcome; demolition is the fallback.

What every application must include — and what every neighbor must be able to see.

§ 8.1 — Submission requirements

• Land development plan meeting all standards of the underlying district and this ordinance.
• Pre-construction noise study (§ 4.2).
• Water feasibility study (§ 3.2), if applicable.
• Drought response plan (§ 3.4).
• Energy use plan describing peak demand, redundancy, on-site generation (if any), and curtailment commitments.
• Decommissioning plan with cost estimate prepared by a licensed engineer (§ 7).
• Traffic impact study including construction routing and emergency-response access plan.
• Erosion & Sediment Control Plan and Post-Construction Stormwater Management (PCSM) Plan meeting 25 Pa. Code Chapter 102 and the Lycoming County Stormwater Management Ordinance, prepared by a licensed professional and submitted to the Lycoming County Conservation District.
• Construction management plan with allowable hours, hauling routes, and dust-control measures.

§ 8.2 — Public engagement

• The applicant shall maintain a public project website beginning at least two (2) weeks prior to the first public meeting on the application, and continuing through final land development approval.
• The website shall publish all submissions, revisions, and municipal staff reports.

§ 8.3 — Emergency services coordination

• 911 addressing. The applicant shall obtain a valid 911 address for each principal building on the site and shall post that address at the primary site entrance in characters not less than six (6) inches in height.
• 24-hour contact signage. Emergency-response signage at the primary entrance shall include: company name; site owner or representative name; a 24-hour emergency contact telephone number staffed by a live person; and the name and 24-hour telephone number of the serving electric utility.
• Radio coverage. Prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy, the applicant shall coordinate with the Lycoming County Department of Public Safety and the host municipality’s primary fire chief to verify two-way radio coverage for all responder frequencies inside every occupied space within the facility. Where coverage does not meet the standard of the applicable NFPA / IFC in-building radio-enhancement criteria, the applicant shall design, install, and maintain a bi-directional amplifier (BDA) / distributed antenna system (DAS) at the developer’s sole expense for the life of the facility.
• Specialized first-responder training. The applicant shall provide and fund specialized training for the host volunteer fire company, EMS provider, and county hazmat team in the risks specific to the facility, including: Class C electrical fires, lithium-ion thermal runaway and re-ignition behavior, large-frame gas-turbine generator response, and high-voltage substation rescue. Training shall be offered annually and at any time a material change in equipment occurs, at no cost to the responder agencies.
• Project summary to responders. A site-specific emergency-response plan and project summary shall be filed with all primary first-response agencies and the Lycoming County 911 Director prior to issuance of the building permit, and updated within thirty (30) days of any material site or equipment change.

§ 8.4 — Secondary access

Each data center site shall provide a secondary access suitable for emergency-response purposes, reviewed and approved by the relevant fire chief or emergency-management coordinator.

The pay-to-play schedule — every developer signs the same one.

Pursuant to PA Act 247, Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) cannot themselves be codified in zoning, and a municipality cannot lawfully compel a developer to enter into one as a condition of zoning approval. This article therefore separates the mechanisms into two categories: (a) taxes, fees, and exactions that the municipality is authorized to levy or condition under Pennsylvania statute and the Municipalities Planning Code, and (b) the negotiated Host Community Agreement (HCA) that captures everything else and is executed as a separate contractual instrument before final land-development approval.

§ 9.1 — Statutory mechanisms (Category A)

The following are levied or required by separate ordinance or under standing statutory authority and are not contingent on negotiation:

• § 9.1.1 — PILOT in lieu of LERTA abatement. Any applicant requesting tax abatement under the Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance Act (LERTA, Act 76 of 1977) shall instead enter a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes agreement equal to not less than 80% of the full-build assessed property tax in every year of the agreement, escalated annually by the lesser of CPI-U or 3%. Distribution: 60% school district / 30% host township / 10% county. Payments begin upon issuance of the first certificate of occupancy.
• § 9.1.2 — Business Privilege Tax. The host municipality shall levy a Business Privilege Tax under the Local Tax Enabling Act (Act 511 of 1965) on gross receipts of data-processing, colocation, and cloud-services activities conducted at the facility. Rate: 1.5 mills. The manufacturing exemption of § 301.1(f) of the Act does not apply to data-processing services.
• § 9.1.3 — Emergency Services Impact Contribution. Pursuant to PA MPC § 503-A, the conditional-use approval shall require a one-time impact contribution of $500 per MW of approved interconnect capacity, payable on issuance of the building permit, plus an annual recurring contribution of $150 per MW paid to the host volunteer fire company and EMS provider for training, SCBA replacement, and equipment specific to facility risks (Class C / lithium events, high-voltage rescue).

§ 9.2 — Host Community Agreement (Category B)

Before submission of the formal land-development application, the applicant shall execute a Host Community Agreement with the host township and the County of Lycoming. The HCA is a separately enforceable contract under Pennsylvania contract law and shall include, at minimum:

• § 9.2.1 — Host Community Fee. A recurring host fee of $3,500 per MW of approved interconnect capacity per year, escalated 2.5% annually, paid quarterly to the host township as unrestricted general-fund revenue. Modeled on the longstanding PA host municipality benefit fee applied to waste facilities since 1988.
• § 9.2.2 — Airport Restoration Fund. A recurring contribution of $250,000 per facility per year to the Williamsport Municipal Airport Authority, dedicated by inter-municipal agreement to (i) the local match required for any Essential Air Service contract serving IPT and (ii) demand-stimulation marketing as authorized under 49 USC § 41742(b)(1).
• § 9.2.3 — Workforce Endowment. A one-time endowment of $1,000,000 to the Pennsylvania College of Technology Foundation for a Data Center Operations & Mechatronics track, plus $200,000 per year for ten years for scholarships restricted to Lycoming and Clinton County residents, paid apprenticeships during construction, and a guaranteed first-round interview for graduates at the host facility.
• § 9.2.4 — Dark fiber dedication. The applicant shall extend, at cost, a minimum of four (4) strands of dark single-mode fiber from the facility property line to: (i) the host township municipal building, (ii) the nearest fire/EMS station, (iii) the nearest public school of the host district, and (iv) one designated rural anchor institution selected by the host township. Recurring transport on the dark fiber shall be billed at the prevailing FCC-regulated wholesale rate.
• § 9.2.5 — Community Benefit Fund. A one-time contribution of not less than 1% of gross construction capital expenditure, paid at construction commencement to a restricted fund of the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania. Disbursement shall be governed by a Community Advisory Board of seven members: two appointed by the host township supervisors, two by the County Commissioners, two by the host school district, and one non-voting observer designated by the operator. Eligible uses are limited to housing rehabilitation, public recreation and riverfront access, mental-health services, and public-school capital projects within the host municipality and adjoining municipalities.
• § 9.2.6 — Public-dashboard funding. Operator-funded public website tracking real-time sound levels at all sensitive receptors, water consumption and discharge, generator run hours and emissions, energy consumption, and any on-site generation, maintained for the life of the facility and audited annually by an independent third party paid by the operator and selected by the host township.

Penalties, monitoring, and severability.

§ 10.1 — Reporting

The operator shall submit an annual compliance report to the municipality covering noise, water use and discharge, generator run hours and emissions, energy consumption, on-site generation (if any), and any unresolved complaints. The report shall be posted on the operator’s public project website.

§ 10.2 — Violation

Any violation of this ordinance shall be subject to the fines and remedies established in the underlying municipal zoning code. Continuing violations of § 4 (Noise) or § 3 (Water) may result in suspension of the certificate of occupancy until the violation is cured. The municipality reserves the right to draw upon the financial surety established under § 7 to cure violations the operator fails to address within 90 days of written notice.

§ 10.3 — Severability

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this ordinance is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, the decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions.

§ 10.4 — Effective date

This ordinance shall take effect immediately upon adoption.