Springhill Township adopts data center, power generation ordinances
The three members of the Springhill Township Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a pair of ordinances restricting data centers and associated fossil fuel power facilities during a Thursday night meeting, capping a monthslong effort to regulate the high tech industry in rural southern Fayette County.
This effort follows a third ordinance regulating noise and dust that was approved at a Sept. 7 meeting, where the supervisors also tabled a scheduled vote on the data centers and fossil fuel power ordinances after realizing they had not met state requirements regarding prior public notice of official government business.
Supervisor Vice Chairman Damon Helen said that these ordinances are designed to “protect the health, safety and welfare of all of our residents.” Helen and Supervisor Chair Sean Goodwin emphasized that while the township has not received any applications for data center projects, they wanted to act proactively to protect Springhill.
The board began considering these ordinances in February after neighboring townships reported interest from data center developers.
The regulatory effort within Springhill rapidly accelerated in June after representatives from Nadara, an independent power production company, told the board the company had entered into a right-to-purchase agreement with the Fay-Penn Economic Council for 800 acres near Gans. That allowed the township to trigger a six-month pause to enact new regulations regarding data center development.
Helen and Goodwin applauded the high-degree of public participation in a number of workshops and townhalls held regarding the two ordinances over the past four months, saying that residents routinely “packed” the Appalachian Community Center building where they hold meetings.
Goodwin said that residents expressed concern regarding dust, light, noise, vibration and water pollution from potential data center projects, which helped inform the final adopted data center ordinance.
“In that, we took emails, we took questions and those questions were all health, safety and welfare questions,” Helen said. “90% of them were all pretty similar.”
Township Solicitor David Tamasy reviewed a number of comparable enacted ordinances and draft ordinances from municipalities across the commonwealth in writing Springhill’s version, Goodwin said.
Helen said that the board may consider further action to update its zoning ordinance in order to reflect the changes included within the two adopted ordinances.
“We’re grateful for all the participation from our residents over the past three to four months,” he said, “honestly, it’s been really informative, and it’s nice to see so many people interested in the workshops, it’s really nice.”