NOTICE TO WESTFALL TOWNSHIP RESIDENTS
Notice is hereby given that the Westfall Township Supervisors will conduct a Public Hearing on December 7, 2026, at 6:00 pm, at the Westfall Township Municipal Building located at 102 LaBarr Lane, Matamoras, PA 18336, to consider an Ordinance that will amend provisions of the Westfall Township Zoning Ordinance, by establishing regulations of Data Denters in the Township. The purpose of the Ordinance is to regulate the use of Data Centers as well as to protect the rural and recreational character of the Township which attracts residents, homeowners, and visitors. Data Centers shall be a permitted conditional use in the C-2 and C-3 Zoning Districts and shall only be approved when approved in compliance with the procedures, standards, and criteria contained in this Ordinance. Data Centers are not permitted in the CD, R-1, R-2, C-1, ED, and GC Zones as such uses are not compatible with those districts. A Data Center shall be defined as a building or buildings which are occupied primarily by computers and/or telecommunications and related equipment where digital information is processed, transferred, and/or stored, primarily to and from offsite location. This use does not include computers or telecommunications-related equipment that is secondary and customarily incidental to an otherwise permitted use on the property, such as servers with an office building. This use shall also include but not be limited to cryptocurrency mining, blockchain transaction processing, hyperscale, artificial intelligence, supercomputers, data center campuses, and server farms. A Data Center may include Data Center Accessory Uses. The Ordinance sets specific criteria for building placement and orientation, maximum height of the structure, setbacks, noise, negative impacts, safety, emergency management, energy system/supply, nuclear, water infrastructure, Environmental and Community Impact Studies, Historical and Cultural Resource Assessment, screening and buffering, fences, lighting, Cumulative Impact Analysis, Expansion, Intensification, and Change of Use, Voluntary Development Agreements, and Decommissioning.
A full copy of the proposed Ordinance is available for inspection at the Westfall Township Municipal Building, the Pike County Dispatch, and the Pocono Record.
Christian E. Weed, Solicitor Kaitlin Hildebrandt, Secretary
Ordinance 182 Regulating Data Centers -Final Draft
