Data center requirements involving sound and setbacks may change in Luzerne County’s proposed zoning ordinance because an executive summary suggests the current recommendations could be too restrictive and exclusionary.
The county planning commission is set to discuss the suggested changes Thursday. The commission approved the data center zoning ordinance amendment in May, but it was not forwarded to County Council for final adoption because the county law office first wanted to perform its own review.
Because the county administration is suggesting alterations, the commission must vote on those changes before the amendment advances to the council.
The proposed amendment covers an exhaustive set of conditions that must be met and mandates more extensive special exception approval from the county zoning hearing board for all data center requests.
The executive summary outlining the administration’s suggestions said the original integration of sound and setback requirements “resulted in dimensional constraints that made it nearly impossible to site data centers within any allowable zoning district.”
According to the summary:
A zoning ordinance must accommodate all legal land uses under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, “including those which may be unpopular.”
The combination of requirements originally approved by the commission “created a high risk of de facto exclusionary provisions” based on extensive testing of county GIS mapping data.
If a landowner successfully challenged the ordinance as exclusionary, it could lead to a “worst-case scenario” where large data centers are located in areas outside those currently defined with significantly lower standards.
To address this, the new proposal revised the dimensional and sound standards to the minimum necessary levels to eliminate the possibility of exclusionary practices.
Setbacks
In the original plan, the largest “hyperscale” and “major” data centers had to be at least 2,000 feet from the boundaries of districts with residential structures or the lot line of a lengthy list of “sensitive receptors,” such as schools, hospitals, and places of worship.
However, that distance could be reduced to a range of 1,500 to 1,999 feet if the applicant successfully demonstrated it would exceed other environmental performance standards, including noise levels, visual screening, and/or aesthetic improvements that “mask the data center use.”
Under the suggested change, these larger data centers would have to be 1,250 feet from sensitive receptors.
The county zoning hearing board could reduce the sensitive-receptor setback to 1,000 feet if the applicant shows the project will meet or exceed environmental standards.
For smaller “edge” and “minor” data centers, the original setback was 1,000 feet from residences and sensitive receptors, although it permitted an option to reduce the range from 750 to 999 feet if the applicant could prove it would exceed environmental performance standards.
In the new proposal, these smaller data centers would have to be 650 feet from residences and sensitive receptors, with the option for the county zoning hearing board to reduce that distance to 500 feet if the project proves it would meet or exceed environmental standards.
The distance from bodies of water has also been revised, from an original 500 feet to a current suggested 400 feet.
Noise
The revised suggestion says sound should not exceed 55 dB(A) and 65 dB(C) at the property line.
Both are weighted decibel measurements. The A-weighting reflects how the human ear perceives sound, while the C-weighting more accurately captures low-frequency noise, such as the hum of industrial equipment.
In comparison, the maximum sound levels in the original proposal were 45 dB(A) and 60 dB(C) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and reduced to 40 dB(A) and 50 dB(C) from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends and holidays.
More information
Posted in the planning and zoning department section at luzernecounty.org, the executive summary said protections are needed for all involved parties.
“Residents need protection from noise, environmental harm, and incompatible neighbors. Entities administering zoning need protection from legal challenges that could undermine planning efforts. Landowners and developers need clear, predictable rules,” it said. “This amendment is built to provide all of the above.”
The full 31-page zoning ordinance amendment before the commission is posted in the county meeting agenda section at luzernecounty.org. The original version is posted with the commission’s May 14 meeting in the same online section.
Thursday’s public commission meeting is at 2 p.m. in the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre.
If approved by County Council, the amendment would take effect in 19 municipalities that rely on county zoning instead of handling it on their own: the boroughs of Avoca, Courtdale, Dupont, Duryea, Hughestown, Jeddo, Laflin, New Columbus, Pringle, Warrior Run, West Wyoming, and Yatesville, and the townships of Conyngham, Fairmount, Hunlock, Huntington, Lake, Ross, and Union.