Douglass (Mont.) Township to pull out of regional planning group
Douglass (Mont.) Township supervisors voted to withdraw from the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee after discovering North Coventry Township secretly studied data center sites within Douglass. This action has upset Douglass officials, who are now working to implement more restrictive data center zoning, making the remaining regional compact members more vulnerable to development challenges.
Douglass (Mont.) Township supervisors voted unanimously to begin the process of withdrawing from the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee. This decision was prompted by the revelation that North Coventry Township, a fellow member of the eight-municipality compact, had conducted a study identifying suitable data center locations within Douglass Township without any prior communication or consultation.
Douglass Township Supervisors Chairman Josh Stouch criticized North Coventry's actions as "inappropriate and unprofessional," noting that some information in the LTL Consultants report was inaccurate. He also informed the public that while Douglass currently has zoning language allowing data centers, enacted before the recent surge in hyper-scale applications, the township's solicitor and engineer are actively working to make those restrictions even tighter.
The withdrawal means the remaining seven municipalities in the compact—New Hanover, Upper Pottsgrove, Lower Pottsgrove, West Pottsgrove, Pottstown, North Coventry, and East Coventry—may become more susceptible to zoning challenges from data center developers. Douglass officials suggested exploring a new regional planning committee with other towns like New Hanover, Boyertown, and Washington Township in Berks County. The long-term impact on the draft comprehensive regional plan for the current committee remains unclear.