Local
Radnor draft would confine data centers to two office districts and impose safeguards
Radnor commissioners have advanced an early-stage zoning proposal that would restrict data centers to two laboratory-office districts and require studies of their effects on water, heat and power. No data center is currently proposed in the township, and the draft still faces public and committee review.
Radnor Township officials are considering new zoning rules to limit where data centers could be built and how they operate, as such projects spread across Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia region.
Township commissioners on Monday, Oct. 26, advanced a preliminary draft ordinance. It would permit data centers only in Radnor’s two laboratory-office zoning districts, and each project would require conditional-use approval from commissioners. The proposal is in an early stage and will be reviewed with input from the public, commissioners and township boards and committees before a formal vote.
No data center is currently proposed in Radnor, zoning officer Megan Donovin told commissioners. She said rules would let the township set standards and retain local oversight. The goal, she said, is to keep facilities relatively small and controlled rather than allow the large, purpose-built campuses often associated with data centers.
The two eligible districts are off Radnor Chester Road and Matsonford Road. The first includes a Penn Medicine building, restaurants and corporate offices and borders Radnor High School. The second includes office buildings and borders residential neighborhoods and Archbishop John Carroll High School.
Under the draft, developers would have to submit water, thermal-impact and power-feasibility studies for township approval before construction. Facilities would be required to use air-based or closed-loop liquid cooling and meet applicable state and federal environmental standards.
The proposal also calls for a publicly listed contact to respond to complaints within 72 hours. Developers would provide the township with a $100,000 deposit, refundable five years after a facility reaches full production, except for money needed to address damage to the local water supply.
Pennsylvania municipalities cannot prohibit data centers outright, but they can use zoning to regulate location, size, energy use and construction. Delaware County issued guidance in May recommending conditional-use approval and attention to noise, heat, light pollution and water consumption. Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order in August requiring local approval for data center projects to obtain state permits.
The Radnor proposal could change during review. Its eventual effect will depend on the final rules and how commissioners apply them to any future applications.