PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Newtown Township supervisors in Delaware County have unanimously passed an ordinance to regulate potential data center applications.
There’s no active data center proposal in Newtown Township. The board of supervisors said this is a preemptive measure to protect residents.
Some residents believe the 15-page ordinance is far less exhaustive than ordinances in nearby townships. And, some think it falls short on things like policing groundwater usage.
“If a data center uses someone’s well water, or there’s contamination, there’s just several weeks of response time built in, and it’s just not adequate to protect our residents,” said Alexis Burd.
She hoped the board would opt for a curative amendment to beef up the draft while also being protected from lawsuits from developers.
“Which would give us basically 180 days to revise our zoning ordinance to hopefully prevent a data center applicant from arriving on the scene while our ordinance isn’t as strong as it needs to be,” she said.
Maria Toglia is most concerned with noise pollution and the detrimental health impacts of a constant buzz. She’s concerned that some noise levels are allowed to reach the ambient level of traffic, which she said is hardly a limit.
“So there is no absolute unbreakable ceiling for how loud it can get,” she noted.
Many of the dozens in attendance wanted a curative amendment that would allow the board about six months to revise while not being liable for insufficiencies in the existing draft, but that didn’t materialize on Monday.
Some residents fear ordinance is not stringent enough
Some residents fear ordinance is not stringent enough
