Whitemarsh Township residents who want a say in how data centers are regulated can weigh in at a public hearing Thursday, Sept. 10.

The Board of Supervisors will hold the hearing at its regular meeting on a proposed ordinance setting rules for data center development in the township, according to a civic alert posted on the township's website. No data center application has been filed in Whitemarsh. The township described the ordinance as a proactive effort to have regulations in place before any developer comes knocking.

Pennsylvania law prohibits municipalities from banning legal land uses, including data centers, the township noted. That legal reality has pushed communities across Montgomery County to write their own rules rather than risk having none when a proposal lands.

The proposed ordinance draws on recommendations from the Montgomery County Planning Commission and a model ordinance from Penn Future, a statewide environmental advocacy group. The Board of Supervisors voted to advertise the ordinance at its Aug. 13 meeting, and the Whitemarsh Planning Commission had the ordinance on its Aug. 11 agenda.

Data center proposals have surfaced across the region in recent months, including in Plymouth, Upper Merion, East Vincent, Limerick and North Coventry townships. Norristown Municipal Council unanimously adopted its own data center ordinance on Aug. 18, as the Times Herald reported. Vincent Poppa, assistant director of Norristown's Planning and Municipal Development Department, said at that hearing that the ordinance "does not approve any particular data center project" but "creates the zoning framework that would apply if an applicant proposes one …"

Whitemarsh's ordinance follows the same logic. The township has stressed that passing the rules does not greenlight any specific project.

Other township business

The township also announced a special Open Space Committee meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 9, and an active survey on the Green Ribbon Trail, a path connecting Fort Washington State Park and Fairmount Park. Details on the meeting agenda and the survey link were not included in the township's Sept. 3 announcement.

The Sept. 10 Board of Supervisors meeting will be held at the township building, 616 Germantown Pike, Lafayette Hill. A start time was not listed in the civic alert. Residents can check the township's agenda center for updates.