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I attended an informational meeting on June 23rd at Straughn Auditorium on the Mansfield campus. It was primarily about zoning codes, which municipalities/townships have them, which don't, and what the limitations are on zoning codes as far as regulating data centers is concerned. I live in Rutland Township, which does not have zoning codes in place. In fact, only 16 of 39 municipalities and townships in the county do have any form of zoning code. And without zoning codes, Data Center developers can pretty much do what they want in those places.
I also learned that "landsmen" are already active in the county, and their role is to buy up land that would then be sold to the Data Center developers. I've been following, through the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, what municipalities and townships have been experiencing in the Williamsport area as far as these land buyers are concerned. In Salem Township, Luzerne County, landsmen have been offering $250,000 per acre and a million dollars for houses on that acreage. In a nearby area, these transactions have gone through, and the people who lived there are gone. It's interesting to me that our devotion to the idea that people can do what they want to with their property completely ignores the reality that in doing so, they are selling their neighbors and their county down the creek. There should be some level of shame in this.
I also read that in two major data centers in the Williamsport area have secured non-disclosure agreements from government leaders in the county, and this means they can not talk about the deals with the data centers. In fact, at least one data center requires these elected officials to report to them any "right to know" requests they receive. Professor Eric Bond in the Sociology Department at Mary Washington University, says this is not how a democratic government should work. Our county officials do not plan to sign such agreements.
But there are also signs of potential resistance in some townships. Woodward Township Board of Supervisor's Chair Jeffrey Stroehmann recommends the township seek something called a "curative amendment." This would give the township a 180 day grace period to create or update zoning codes. Current codes were developed without any idea of what data centers might require in the way of regulation. Noise pollution in these codes tends to refer to loud parties, not the significant levels of noise that are generated by data centers. Zoning codes cannot prevent data centers from locating in areas, but they can regulate things like building heights and noise levels. There are also "conditional use" agreements that can attach conditions to the development of data centers without making them impossible. Unfortunately, our Governor Shapiro has enabled something called "rapid development" which can only have the effect of decreasing the time municipalities and townships have to get effective zoning codes in place.
So there are steps Rutland Township can take to prepare for data centers when they do come calling. I know our Commissioners have put in place an umbrella ordinance that limits the size of data center buildings, determines their setback from property nearby, and addresses noise pollution. But even with this ordinance, without its own zoning codes, Rutland Township could see an unlimited number of data centers spring up around us. I'd really hate that!
ELLEN A. BLAIS
Mansfield
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom