Municipal Monday, Issue 09. A weekly digest of regulatory and development activity from 32 Central Pennsylvania municipalities.
THE PATTERN: The data center zoning wave keeps moving toward decisions. Windsor Township has a public hearing and possible adoption of its data center amendment set for July 20. East Hanover Township (Dauphin County) authorized advertising its amendment July 7 and referred it to the Dauphin County Planning Commission. South Hanover Township moved to advertise its ordinance July 1, Newberry Township sent a draft to its solicitor and engineer, and Lower Allen Township’s Ordinance 2026-04 and South Londonderry Township’s Ordinance 234 are both in the hearing pipeline. Six municipalities across four counties, writing the same rules at once.
ON THE BOARDS: The rules are still being written, and the first data center land development plans are already on the boards. Middlesex Township (Cumberland County) carried Pennsylvania Digital’s PAX-1 campus on its July 13 Planning Commission agenda: a preliminary plan for Phase 3 and a final plan for Phase 1-B, both with an August 5 Board of Supervisors action deadline. The broader pipeline is heavy: Georgetowne, a 196-lot preliminary subdivision up for action in South Middleton Township July 9, a Wawa in Swatara Township, a Sheetz rebuild and Cumberland Range Estates Phase 6 in Middlesex, Messiah Lifeways and a Mavis Tire in Fairview Township, and Conewago Ridge in Reading Township.
LONG HORIZON: Comprehensive plan and zoning overhauls are launching in parallel. Camp Hill Borough authorized advertising a request for proposals for an updated Comprehensive Plan, backed by a $25,000 state grant. East Hanover Township (Dauphin County) proposed updates to its Zoning Ordinance, zoning map, and Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, on the same July 7 agenda that carried its data center amendment. Lower Swatara Township held a hearing on Ordinance 628, a restatement of its Zoning Ordinance, and Hampden Township heard a curative amendment application from Good Hope Ventures, the kind of zoning challenge that can reshape a district.
COST TO WATCH: Windsor Township listed a possible fee schedule amendment on its June 29 agenda, separate from its data center hearing. Fairview Township tied approval of the Mavis Tire plan to an $8,352 escrow and a traffic improvement fee. South Middleton Township processed security reductions on the Westgate subdivision phases, and West Hanover Township is working a draft stormwater user fee analysis.
If you own or are working land in any of these jurisdictions, happy to talk through what a specific item means for a specific parcel.
Municipal Monday runs weekly. Next issue: 7/20.