Municipal Monday, Issue 20. A weekly digest of regulatory and development activity from 38 Central Pennsylvania municipalities, with every pending item checked against the posted record.
THE PATTERN: Eleven municipalities in four counties have adopted data center ordinances this year. The newest is East Pennsboro Township’s Ordinance 864-2026, adopted September 16. It goes beyond definitions: a new Annex zoning district, data centers there by conditional use, 60 decibel daytime and 50 decibel nighttime limits at the lot line, and a decommissioning plan. Two others predate the September 21 count and surfaced in minutes and codified ordinances: Swatara Township in Dauphin County amended the rules it adopted in April 2025 with Ordinance 2026-05 on August 5, and Londonderry Township, also in Dauphin County, adopted a Data Center Overlay, Ordinance 2026-03, on February 11. They join South Londonderry, Franklin Township in York County, Hampden, Lower Allen, Windsor, West Hanover, South Middleton and East Hanover. Next: Upper Allen’s Planning Commission reviews a data center and battery storage amendment September 28, and Newberry hears data center and solar ordinances October 13.
Under Executive Order 2026-05, local approvals and comprehensive plan consistency gate a DEP permit for data centers over 25 megawatts, and the state processing clocks do not start until both are in hand. An adopted ordinance is what a project’s local approval is measured against, which is why the detail in East Pennsboro’s is worth reading.
ON THE BOARDS: Twenty-three plans carry a board or commission action across eleven municipalities, on agendas dated September 21 to 25. Twelve are new to our tracking; eleven return from earlier weeks at a later stage. Newberry’s September 22 agenda carried five, including an indoor recreation facility. West Hanover’s Planning Commission agenda carried a 118-unit plan in four three-story buildings. Harrisburg’s September 22 agenda listed approval of the four plans reported here September 14, 52 units. South Middleton carries three. Silver Spring, Reading in Adams County and Washington in Franklin County carry two each; South Hanover, Carlisle, Middlesex and Warrington one each.
LONG HORIZON: Five land-use questions go to a public hearing or the ballot between October 7 and November 18. Middlesex hears solar as a conditional use in its Institutional district October 7, Newberry its solar ordinance October 13. Upper Allen’s land preservation referendum is on the November 3 ballot. Susquehanna’s agenda carried a motion to schedule a November 12 hearing on a Linglestown Road Overlay permitting certain commercial development; Silver Spring’s, a November 18 hearing on an Agricultural Security Area addition. Neither motion has a posted outcome.
COST TO WATCH: Silver Spring’s September 23 agenda listed $3.15 million in security reductions and a release: $1.87 million on the Green Ridge Elementary expansion, $1.27 million on Eagle View Middle School and $3,494 at 808 W. Trindle Road. No outcome is posted. Separately, minutes from Derry Township in Dauphin County confirm $1.52 million released on two plans September 8, 5 to 0.
As of publication on September 28, the adoptions and Derry’s releases above are confirmed from minutes or published ordinances. Everything else is an agenda item or notice.
If a hearing date or a security reduction touches ground you hold, we can tell you what it means for the specifics.
Municipal Monday runs weekly. Next issue: 10/5.