York County Council Addresses Zoning, Data Center Noise Amid Manager Resignation
York County Council accepted the county manager's resignation and addressed multiple zoning matters. Residents expressed significant opposition, particularly regarding noise from a QTS data center and traffic concerns for other proposed developments. The council advanced several zoning ordinances, some with modifications responding to public feedback.
The York County Council met, accepting the resignation of County Manager Josh Edwards and appointing Jim Baker as interim. Amidst these changes, the Council tackled several significant zoning and development issues, drawing considerable public input.
One major point of contention was a proposed rezoning for two warehouses on Highway 21 and Flint Hill Road, which advanced to a second reading despite staff recommendations for denial and strong objections from neighbors, including members of Flint Hill Baptist Church who cited concerns about increased truck traffic and noise near their cemetery and youth sports fields.
Separately, the Council considered a split zoning ordinance. Residents living near a QTS data center urged the council to either abandon these changes or, at a minimum, to strengthen the county's noise ordinance, citing disruptions from late-night data center construction. Although the Council passed a second reading of the split zoning ordinance, they removed language that would have allowed industrial rules to expand without public hearings and limited its scope to existing residential split-zoned lots.
Further development discussions included the final approval of a fee-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement change, removing Pallidus Inc.'s semiconductor project, and considering a rezoning application for land owned by Walmart for light industrial use. Notably, the developer's covenant for the Walmart property explicitly prohibits data centers, manufacturing, and other industrial uses, while the county's development report highlighted that nonresidential valuation, driven primarily by QTS, more than doubled to over $420 million.