Impacts of Douglass withdrawing from regional planning become clearer
Douglass (Mont.) Township's withdrawal from the regional planning committee has raised questions about data center zoning for the remaining seven municipalities. This decision, effective after a one-year process, leaves other towns vulnerable to data center challenges unless they amend their individual zoning ordinances. The withdrawal also halts the adoption of a new regional comprehensive plan, requiring a significant rewrite.
Douglass (Mont.) Township's decision to withdraw from the Pottstown Metropolitan Regional Planning Committee (PMRPC) has significant implications for data center zoning and regional planning in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The withdrawal process, as explained by Marley Bice, community planning assistant manager with the Montgomery County Planning Commission, specifies a one-year period that commences only after the Douglass Board of Supervisors conducts a public hearing and formally passes a resolution for withdrawal. Until this period concludes, Douglass's existing zoning ordinance, which accommodates data centers, continues to provide a measure of protection to other member townships, preventing legal challenges against their own zoning codes for not explicitly including data centers.
The central issue for the remaining municipalities stems from the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, which generally mandates that every municipality zone for every land use. Membership in a regional planning committee traditionally allowed for the distribution of "unpopular uses," such as hyper-scale data centers, across member jurisdictions, thereby shielding individual townships from being compelled to zone for them. Douglass's exit removes this collective protection, prompting townships like Upper Pottsgrove and North Coventry to initiate the process of amending their individual zoning ordinances to incorporate and regulate potential data center applications.
Furthermore, Douglass's withdrawal has disrupted the finalization of a new regional comprehensive plan, a document updated every 10 to 15 years, which was nearing adoption. Marley Bice anticipates a two-to-four-month period will be required to revise the plan, excising all references to Douglass Township. Kurt Zebrowsky, chairman of the regional planning committee and a New Hanover Supervisor, suggested that, given the extensive rework needed, it might be more practical to abandon the current draft and commence work on an entirely new plan.