Another data center submits new plan just hours before new rules are adopted
MCD 7, LLC submitted two new data center applications in Limerick, Pennsylvania, hours before the township supervisors were scheduled to vote on more restrictive zoning rules. This mirrors a similar incident in Upper Hanover Township and highlights a "rush to file" issue that a proposed state bill aims to address.
In a display of striking timing, a second data center application in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, was submitted just hours before Limerick Township Supervisors were set to vote on a more rigorous zoning ordinance. The applications, from developer MCD 7, LLC, are for a phased project on the same 191-acre property opposite the Philadelphia Premium Outlets on Lightcap Road, originally proposed in January as a 2.8-million-square-foot facility. The new submission splits the project into two phases totaling 2.7 million square feet, with the first phase being a smaller 300,000-square-foot building.
This incident closely follows a similar occurrence last month in Upper Hanover Township, where a 150,000-square-foot data center application was filed hours before supervisors adopted a stricter data center ordinance. Despite the new submissions, MCD 7, LLC reportedly intends to proceed with a conditional use hearing for the original proposal on July 21. Meanwhile, a separate 1.8-million-square-foot data center project on the former Publicker distillery facility in Limerick's Linfield section remains without a hearing date.
The repeated "rush to file" phenomenon has drawn attention from State Rep. Paul Friel (D-26th Dist.), who proposed HB 2496. This bill, which passed the Pennsylvania House 201-1 and has been voted out of the Senate's Local Government Committee, aims to allow municipalities to initiate a 180-day pause on data center applications, giving them time to update zoning regulations before new proposals circumvent them.