Lancaster Township to prepare curative amendment to address data centers
LANCASTER TWP — The township’s board of supervisors took a major step to address the issue of data center development during its monthly meeting on Monday, July 20, when it voted to officially declare that its zoning ordinance was inadequate to provide for such developments.
In so doing, the township gave itself 180 days to draft a “municipal curative amendment” to its zoning ordinance to address data center development. This will effectively serve as a moratorium on the possibility of the township approving any data center developments during that time.
The board of supervisors discussed the possibility during its workshop meeting July 13.
Pennsylvania’s Municipalities Planning Code, allows a municipality to declare its own zoning ordinance (or a portion thereof) invalid and “propose to prepare a curative amendment to overcome such invalidity.”
By law, the township must enact the curative amendment within 180 days to either “validate, or reaffirm the validity of, its zoning ordinance”, and once this is completed, the township may not invoke the ability to prepare a municipal curative amendment again for at least three full years.
Lancaster Township is not the first municipality in Butler County to use the curative amendment process to address the issue of data centers. Adams and Forward Townships have placed six-month moratoriums on the development of data centers. Penn, Jefferson and Summit townships are considering similar measures.
