Six months after developers pitched an informal data center plan for Cathill Road, West Rockhill Township supervisors voted unanimously to approve a new zoning ordinance regulating the industry, writes Lacey Latch for the Bucks County Courier Times.

Under the new ordinance, data center development is limited to the township’s “PI – Planned Industrial” zoning district and requires special permission from the zoning hearing board. Additional requirements include on-site solar power and improvements to public infrastructure.

On April 15, supervisors also instructed the township solicitor to draft amendments to the new ordinance incorporating planning commission members’ recommendations and public comments. The amendments will be introduced at the supervisors meeting scheduled for May 20.

“The three supervisors here are elected by you folks, and our job is to try to guide, manage and help keep our way of life for us,” said board Chair Jay Keyser. “Neither one of us three want to see a data center destroy the way of our life.”

More than 100 residents gathered at the township municipal building in Upper Bucks before the April 15 hearing to protest potential data centers in the rural community.

Read more about the new zoning ordinance regulating data centers approved by West Rockhill Township supervisors in the Bucks County Courier Times.

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