Shane W Potter

BUFFALO TWP — Following the example of numerous other municipalities in Butler County, Buffalo Township is preparing an amendment to its zoning ordinance to address how it plans to handle data center development in the future.

At its monthly meeting on Wednesday night, Oct. 14, the board of supervisors voted to approve sending its draft version of the data center ordinance to the Butler County Planning Commission for review, a necessary step before the township can adopt it.

In August, supervisors triggered the municipal curative amendment process, declaring the zoning amendment was structurally invalid for addressing data centers and giving the township 180 days to draft legislation to address the issue. This effectively serves as a six-month moratorium on the possibility of any developers pitching a data center to Buffalo Township.

“As anyone that’s dealt with these knows, if you don’t have a part of your ordinance that addresses a use, there’s a chance that it could be considered as permitted by exception,” said township solicitor Brian Farrington.

According to Farrington, the township expects to officially adopt the ordinance by December after it is reviewed by the Butler County Planning Commission.

“The curative amendment process requires that they review it and they’ll give comments back,” Farrington said.

Although it is still a draft, Farrington says the ordinance should address basic concerns of residents.

“In its current form, we’re looking to address a lot of the common complaints,” Farrington said. “Noise, buffering, screening, things of that nature.”

Supervisors also approved the purchase of a 2026 Dodge Durango pursuit vehicle for the township’s police department for $38,285.51, which includes the costs of “upfitting” the vehicle for police duty.

The cost also takes into account a discount from the PA COSTARS cooperative purchasing program and a gain of $25,000 from trading in the department’s previous 2022 Ford F-150.

This marks the second time the township has purchased a new cruiser for the police department in 2026. The first one, a Ford Explorer purchased in March, was purchased as a replacement for another cruiser which was totaled in a crash. This one, according to police Chief Tim Derringer, is a regularly scheduled replacement.

“I try to replace (vehicles) every five years or 120,000 miles,” Derringer said. “We were able to save a lot of money with the trade value.”