Data Centers: Daily Notes | September 21, 2026

Lycoming County, Pennsylvania

Lycoming County's Planning Commission reviewed a draft curative amendment on data centers this week, the latest step in a process county commissioners set in motion in June when they approved drafting the language, starting a 180-day clock to finalize and approve it.

Lycoming County Planning Commission gets first look at draft data center amendment

A draft of a curative amendment for data centers was introduced at the Lycoming County Planning Commission meeting this week, the next step in trying to get ahead of the growing expansion of data centers in the state. Although a copy of the document was only available for the members of the commission, […]

The Express

John LaVelle of Entech Engineering, the firm handling the drafting, said the county previously had no data center use defined in its zoning ordinance, leaving it exposed under Pennsylvania's fair share doctrine, which prevents municipalities from refusing a legitimate business use and would have allowed a developer to seek a location almost anywhere among the 19 municipalities under the county's zoning authority. He said the amendment must recognize the use, designate suitable locations, and establish safeguards like special exception standards.

Power the Valley — Lycoming County Data Center Initiative

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Power the Valley · Lycoming County

The draft addresses power sourcing, water supply, permitted zones, setbacks, noise and decommissioning requirements, and would require developers to submit a land development plan detailing the campus layout and backup power plans. Public comment is expected to open 30 days before commissioner hearings begin, with the first possibly held in mid-November.

Raritan Township, New Jersey

Raritan Township's Committee adopted an ordinance banning data centers throughout the municipality, amending the Land Development Code to add data centers to the list of prohibited uses in all zoning districts.

The amended code also specifies that warehouses, flex spaces and research facilities cannot include data centers, closing off potential workarounds. It does carve out an exception for businesses that use computer servers as part of their regular operations: accessory server rooms remain permitted within a principal building so long as they support that building's primary use and don't exceed 10% of the building's gross floor area or 2,000 square feet, whichever is smaller.

Baltimore County, Maryland

Baltimore County Council is set to vote Tuesday on whether to extend the county's existing data center moratorium, currently set to expire Jan. 1, through December 2027.

Baltimore County Council preparing for data center moratorium vote

The county council will vote on whether or not to extend the moratorium on data center developments to December 2027.

WMAR 2 News BaltimoreRaven Payne

Councilman David Marks said the public needs more opportunity to weigh in on an issue that touches land use, taxation and water use, and that the council doesn't want to rush judgment on any of it. At a council meeting last week, residents were split: one urged the council to go further than an extension by seriously reconsidering whether data centers should be allowed in the county at all, citing the burden already carried by the county's east side, while another asked for an amendment letting the moratorium end early once appropriate regulations are adopted, citing the potential for family-sustaining union jobs.

Maryland Tech Council President and CEO Kelly Schulz opposes the pause, arguing the county risks missing out on opportunities to advance its innovation and technology sectors. The council vote is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Harmony, Minnesotta

Harmony officials reviewed a sixth draft of a proposed data center ordinance at a joint September 16 meeting of the City Council, EDA and Planning and Zoning, held in the community center gymnasium to fit the growing crowd of attendees.

Harmony Data Center Ordinance Sent to P&Z and Public Hearing - Fillmore County Journal

The combined Harmony City Council, EDA and Planning and Zoning once again reviewed a revised draft of their proposed data center ordinance September 16 The group met in the gymnasium of the Harmony Community Center to provide more room for the ever-increasing public audience. At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Steve Donney announced the

Fillmore County Journal - "Where Fillmore County News Comes First"Wanda Hanson

Attorney Soren Mattick outlined revisions from the previous draft, including added detail on closed-loop cooling systems and any water discharge occurring during startup or operation, a mandatory third-party soils and geotechnical study, and a required 3D acoustic model to verify compliance with state noise standards, backed by annual follow-up checks.

The draft lowered the maximum data center height from 60 to 40 feet, banned shipping containers as a building material, and restricted water use to startup and maintenance only, prohibiting ongoing use during operations. Agricultural setbacks were expanded to at least 400 feet, and developers would bear all monitoring and inspection costs, with the city empowered to levy fines for violations and barred from signing NDAs to keep the process transparent.

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Jasper County, South Carolina

Jasper County Council approved first reading of a one-year moratorium on data center development in unincorporated areas of the county at its Sept. 8 meeting, with second reading and a public hearing scheduled for Sept. 21.

Planning and Building Services Director Lisa Wagner said growing interest in siting data centers in South Carolina prompted staff to recommend pausing acceptance of rezoning applications, site plans, building permits and economic incentives for data centers, data processing facilities and cryptocurrency mining operations. She said current zoning permits data centers as a use by right in community commercial, general commercial, industrial and mixed business districts, but the code doesn't specifically address them since it relies on the North American Classification System, which pushes data centers into a broader allowed-use category. The Planning Commission recommended approval of the moratorium on Aug. 11, invoking the pending ordinance doctrine to prevent applications from being filed while the county reviews its regulations.

Galesburg, Illinois

Galesburg's City Council took up a first-reading ordinance establishing a 180-day moratorium on new data center permits, running through April 3, 2027, to give the city time to set its own rules before any project is proposed.

City Manager Eric Hanson said no data center proposals are currently on file, though interested parties have contacted the city. He said the pause is meant to let Galesburg see what state legislation on data centers emerges, either during the fall veto session or next spring's general session, before finalizing local rules. Hanson said the biggest concerns are electricity and water demands on local infrastructure and the potential for higher utility costs for residents, adding that the city wants to control what future technology development looks like in the community's best interest.

Kirksville, Missouri

Kirksville's Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday, after nearly three hours of public testimony, to recommend zoning amendments regulating data centers, sending the package to a City Council study session Oct. 19 ahead of expected council action Oct. 26.

No developer has approached Kirksville about a project; officials said the amendments close a regulatory gap, since data centers currently don't appear on the city's permitted use table and could otherwise be built by right. The ordinance would confine data centers to the city's single M-2 heavy industrial district, roughly four developable acres near Industrial Road, requiring a non-transferable special use permit, a 75-foot height cap, 50-foot setbacks, and a 500-foot buffer from residential areas, along with closed-loop cooling, a ban on well or surface water use, Tier 4 emergency generators limited to daytime testing, noise caps of 55 decibels by day and 40 at night, an energy and grid impact study, a decommissioning plan backed by a financial guarantee, and a prohibition on city tax incentives.

Statesboro, Georgia

Coastal Community United and eleven individual petitioners filed suit against the City of Statesboro and developer 4 AM Development, LLC in Bulloch County Superior Court, seeking to overturn the city's rezoning of roughly 26.49 acres at 6539 Burkhalter Road from R-4 residential to O office/business for a proposed 99-megawatt data center.

Petition Seeks to Overturn Statesboro’s Approval of Rezoning Application • The Georgia Virtue

A nonprofit organization and a group of property owners have filed suit against the City of Statesboro and the developer behind a proposed 99-megawatt data center, asking a judge to overturn the city’s decision to rezone approximately 26.49 acres for the project. -

The Georgia VirtueJessica Szilagyi

The petition argues Statesboro's June 2, 2026 amendment to its Unified Development Code, adopted about a month before the developer's application, was designed to permit smaller "edge" data centers while explicitly prohibiting hyperscale facilities, yet the approved 99-megawatt project sits right at the hyperscale threshold. Petitioners cited comments from Planning and Development Director Justin Williams at an Aug. 18 public hearing to argue the city effectively approved through rezoning the type of project its own ordinance was meant to exclude. The complaint also points to the property's prior R-4 designation, meant to support high-density residential development, and the city's 2024 housing study finding roughly half of local housing demand is for multifamily units.

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