My wife and I attended the Damascus Township Planning Commission meeting held on May 14, 2026. The ongoing review of the Zoning Ordinance re: data centers was on the agenda. The Planning Commission has begun its review by looking at existing zoning ordinances, and model zoning ordinances, for data centers. The Commission intends to speak with their peers in PA that have an active data center in their municipality, in order to gauge how their ordinance actually worked.

Damascus Township covers about 51,000 acres, of which about 200 acres are zoned industrial. The Chairman of the Planning Commission expressed the “hope” that any data center development would occur within the existing industrial zone. However, there is concern that the small size of this zone could be interpreted as being exclusionary, which could lead to lawsuits. Asked about rezoning to create additional industrial acreage, the Code Enforcement Officer stated that this is very difficult to do, as it would run into a lot of local opposition.

The Planning Commission is concerned, in my opinion rightfully so, about the possibility of lawsuits by potential data center developers. The Code Enforcement Officer stated that the Township must be able to substantiate every restriction in the zoning ordinance. He also stated that every provision in the ordinance must be enforceable.

Information on data center development in PA can be found here. In many cases, information on site size or electrical demand is not indicated. Here is a list of active data centers near Damascus Township. Here is a list of large data centers in PA that are in the Approved or Under Construction phase. I could not find any active data centers in PA that indicated their site size.

The Planning Commission will hold regular meetings on the 2nd Thursday of every month, at 7 pm, at the Damascus Township Municipal Building (60 Conklin Hill Road, Damascus, PA). Work sessions of the Planning Commission will be held on an as needed basis at the same location. Work sessions are open to the public, but public comments will not be allowed.