MUDDY CREEK TWP — Following in the footsteps of numerous other municipalities in Butler County, the board of supervisors of Muddy Creek Township voted during its monthly meeting on Wednesday night, Sept. 16, to authorize the drafting of an ordinance to address the development of any future data centers in the township.

“It’s going to be a detailed, 20-page ordinance on restrictions for data centers in the township,” township solicitor Tom Smith said.

According to Smith, the township had been discussing the possibility of drafting such an ordinance for months.

“We’ve been talking about this for about six months,” Smith said. “My recommendation has been that we wait to see how other municipalities have handled it. My recommendation now is that we go ahead and do the ordinance ourselves.”

Part of the reason for Smith’s recommendation is Gov. Josh Shapiro’s executive order last month to block data center proposals from the Permit Fast Track Program requiring all developers to comply with requirements under the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development program. One of the components of the executive order stipulates developers must receive all necessary local approvals before the state can issue any permits, a change from previous procedure.

“They’re forcing every one of the data center companies... to go through the municipality first before they get to the state level,” Smith said during the meeting.

According to township Supervisor Rick Saunders, there have been no proposals yet from any developers for any data center projects in Muddy Creek Township.