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Amwell Township to hold public hearing May 14 on proposed data center zoning ordinance
PA
Data Centers
April 21, 2026
Source: Observer-Reporter (Washington, PA), April 20, 2026 legal notices
Amwell Township in Washington County, Pennsylvania will hold a public hearing on May 14, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. on a proposed zoning amendment that would, for the first time, define “data center” in township code and set out where such facilities could be built and under what conditions. The hearing will be held at the Amwell Township Municipal Building, 885 Amity Ridge Road, Amity, PA 15311.
According to the notice published in the Observer-Reporter, the draft ordinance covers four areas: definitions for data centers and associated infrastructure; the zoning districts in which data centers would be permissible and the conditional-use standards that would apply; general development standards; and environmental and performance protection standards. The full text is available for public inspection at the municipal building during regular business hours. The notice does not name a specific developer or proposal driving the ordinance.
Amwell Township sits roughly 30 miles south of Pittsburgh, in a county that has seen steady data center inquiry as hyperscaler demand pushes outward from Northern Virginia and into the broader mid-Atlantic gas basin. Washington County's combination of Marcellus gas supply, available land, and fiber routes along I-79 and I-70 makes it the kind of township that fields these proposals before most residents know they are coming. Writing an ordinance before a specific project arrives is the opposite posture — it lets the township set the terms rather than react to them.
What You Can Do
Attend the hearing: May 14, 2026, 4:00 p.m., Amwell Township Municipal Building, 885 Amity Ridge Road, Amity, PA 15311. Public comment is the purpose of the hearing.
Read the ordinance first: The full draft is available for review at the municipal building during regular business hours (phone: township office for current hours). Ask specifically about setback distances from residences and schools, noise limits in decibels measured at the property line, water-use disclosure requirements, backup-generator emissions limits, decommissioning bond requirements, and whether the ordinance caps total acreage or megawattage of data center development in any district.
Ask about the tax side: Zoning is only half the picture. Ask the Board of Supervisors and the Washington County Commissioners whether any Keystone Opportunity Zone, LERTA (Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance), or TIF abatements would apply if a project is approved, and whether there are clawback provisions if promised jobs or investment don't materialize.
Washington County Board of Supervisors contacts: Available through the Amwell Township office and the Washington County Commissioners' office in Washington, PA.
Community Takeaway
An ordinance written in advance is worth more than a moratorium written after a proposal is already on the table. Communities that wait until a specific developer is pitching typically end up negotiating against a pre-drawn site plan with momentum behind it. Communities that pass a by-right ordinance first — with clear setbacks, noise caps, water-use disclosure, backup-generator limits, and environmental performance standards — set the floor before the first application arrives.
Pennsylvania gives townships substantial zoning authority under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC), and the conditional-use framework in Amwell's draft is a common tool: it lets the township require a case-by-case showing that a specific proposal meets local standards, rather than granting development by right. Verify how conditional-use authority works in your state — in other states, zoning power may rest with the county, or with a regional planning body, or be preempted by state siting boards for facilities over a certain size.
The core pipeline question for any township considering a data center ordinance: does it require the applicant or the serving utility to disclose in advance whether residential ratepayers will absorb grid-upgrade costs, or whether a large-load tariff or binding service agreement will isolate those costs to the data center customer? AEP's Pennsylvania footprint (through affiliated subsidiaries) and Duquesne Light serve parts of western Pennsylvania; both are operating in a region where the grid costs of hyperscaler demand are an active regulatory question. If the ordinance is silent on cost-recovery disclosure, the township is ceding that decision to the PUC and to the utility's rate case. Even a one-line requirement that conditional-use applicants disclose the expected utility infrastructure upgrades and who will pay for them is a meaningful local control.
Municipal finance exposure is the other channel worth naming. Townships that extend water, sewer, and road infrastructure for a single large ratepayer carry that debt regardless of whether the facility ever runs at projected capacity. Ask whether the ordinance requires performance bonds, decommissioning reserves, or phased approvals tied to actual occupancy milestones.
Source: Observer-Reporter (Washington, PA), April 20, 2026 legal notices, April 21, 2026.