Easton is scrambling to catch zoning up to hyperscale data center proposals that bring big power, water, and environmental impacts.
Right now data centers are lumped into generic industrial use, which means a GPU-heavy AI build could slide through without standards on energy, cooling, or noise.
Planners want a tiered, data-center-specific framework that scales requirements by size and megawatt draw, with most large sites handled as special exceptions or conditional uses for tighter oversight.
Neighboring Lehigh Valley municipalities are already moving with ordinances covering dimensional limits, buffering, noise/vibration, water and sewer usage, emergency planning, and power supply constraints.
The region is seeing its first true hyperscale pitches, including 2.6M and 5.1M square-foot campuses that will lean hard on local grid capacity and cooling resources if they become AI-focused.
A model ordinance from the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission is coming, signaling that power, water, and community impact will be gatekeepers for future AI-capable data center builds.
The article is worth a read for anyone tracking how second-tier metros are starting to regulate AI data center growth at the zoning and utility interface level.
Source: Easton considers data center regulations as Lehigh Valley proposals surge – lehighvalleylive.com
