Allentown Data Centers & Bill 20
Allentown City Council Meeting
6/17 at 6:30pm at Allentown City Hall (435 Hamilton Street, Allentown)
City Council is revisiting Bill 20 . This bill in its current verbiage is dangerous and would open the door to hyper scale data centers, arguably a heavy industrial use, in our IG district which is currently restricted to only light and medium impact industrial uses. We are pushing instead to pass an 180 day municipal curative amendment, which is a legal mechanism that’s been supported and passed by councils, boards, and solicitors in dozens of municipalities across PA. We are pushing for them to reject Bill 20 and pass a resolution to enact a 180 day municipal curative amendment to hit pause on any new data center proposals and give us time to create a stronger ordinance.
WE NEED YOU TO SHOW UP! If you care about where data centers can go and the rules they have to abide by within the city of Allentown, push to reject Bill 20 and pass the curative municipal amendment instead. There will be time for city council to hear from the public for specific comments on Bill 20.
Hope to see you there. I cannot stress the importance of your presence in the City Council room and ask that if you can stay through the vote on Bill 20, please do.
If you cannot make this meeting, please email Public.Comment@allentownpa.gov voicing your concerns on Bill 20 and put pressure on them instead to pass the 180 curative municipal amendment, and for stricter ordinances that will protect the citizens of Allentown against future data centers.
While Bill 20 does not have any impact on the Emaus Ave proposal since the applicant filed prior to the announcement of Bill 20, I do believe that had Bill 20 passed and then the application came in, that it would've allowed the data center on Emaus Ave anyways, because its verbiage is so lax. Which is ridiculous, and just shows us how important it is to pass a stronger ordinance against data centers for Allentown.
If you have any questions, email me! I'm ccamcfadden@gmail.com and I will do my very best to answer your questions.