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Ordinance response

Hampden Township Data Center Zoning

Hampden Township, Cumberland County

A zoning response in Hampden Township, Cumberland County, where commissioners turned down a 2025 draft that would have allowed data centers near homes and in July 2026 adopted tighter rules limiting them to the Industrial General district.

Ordinance responseN/AS Central
At a glance

The project by the numbers

StatusOrdinance Response
First announced2025-07-31

Hampden Township rejected one set of data center rules, then adopted stricter ones

The number that mattersHampden's rules cap data center sound at 40 decibels at night and on weekends, measured at the property line of nearby homes, and bar backup generators from running when the Air Quality Index is above 70.
Developer
No developer has applied. Township staff drafted the 2025 amendment, and township representatives drafted the 2026 ordinance with input from residents, the Hampden Environmental Advisory Team and the township and county planning commissions. Commissioner Jamie Keener said in 2025 that the township had received informal inquiries but no plans or sketches.
Tenant
There is no project or tenant. The ordinance sets the rules any future data center would have to meet.
Current stage
Ordinance 2026-03 was adopted 5-0 on July 2, 2026. Data centers, their accessory uses and their electric substations are now conditional uses in the Industrial General district only, which means any proposal would need a public hearing before the Board of Commissioners.
Decision body
Hampden Township Board of Commissioners, which would also hear any future conditional use application.
Top issues
Distance from homes, whether data centers belonged in the Office Park district near neighborhoods, water drawn from creeks or wells, noise including low-frequency hum, and emissions from backup generators.
Key opponents
No organized opposition group has been reported. Nearly two dozen residents spoke against the 2025 draft, mostly over the Office Park district near homes along the Wertzville Road corridor and the 200-foot separation it allowed, and neighbors in East Pennsboro Township raised concerns about the Conodoguinet Creek.
Key supporters
All five commissioners voted for the 2026 ordinance. President Kristin Smith said it gives the township protection and will be reviewed as new information comes in, and Commissioner John M. Smith said the 2025 draft would have let a data center sit about 50 feet from homes in the Office Park district, while the new rules require at least 200 feet. Members of the Hampden Environmental Advisory Team thanked the board at the hearing.

How we got here

Commissioners referred a staff draft allowing data centers as a permitted use in the Industrial General district and a conditional use in the Office Park district on July 31, 2025. After more than two hours of public comment, they voted 5-0 on September 25, 2025 to deny that amendment (Ordinance 2025-06). On February 26, 2026 the board sent a new draft limiting data centers to conditional use in the Industrial General district to the Planning Commission, and on May 7 it scheduled a hearing. After the July 2, 2026 hearing, commissioners adopted Ordinance 2026-03 by a 5-0 roll call vote.

What is at stake

Impacts raised and open questions

Noise and vibration

Medium

Ordinance 2026-03 limits data center sound to 50 dBA on weekday daytimes and 40 dBA at night and on weekends at the property line of nearby homes, compares C-weighted and A-weighted readings to catch low-frequency hum, and adds a 6 dB penalty when tonal noise is found.

Hampden Township

Air quality

Medium

Backup generators must run on natural gas, routine testing is limited to weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and backup power can't be used when the Air Quality Index is above 70. Primary power must come from the grid.

Hampden Township

Water

Medium

Data centers must connect to public water and sewer, submit a water needs analysis before a permit is issued, report quarterly water monitoring to DEP and the township, and stop groundwater or surface water withdrawals for cooling during declared drought periods.

Hampden Township

Visual and light

Medium

The ordinance requires a 40-acre minimum lot, a 200-foot setback from residential property lines, parking set back 200 feet from public roads, and a 35-foot height limit that can rise to 50 feet with extra setback.

Hampden Township
Timeline

How it has unfolded

  • 2025-07-31Commissioners refer a staff-drafted amendment allowing data centers in the Industrial General and Office Park districts to the Planning Commission and set a September 25 hearing. Hampden Township
  • 2025-09-25Hampden Township rejects data center zoning amendment 5-0
  • 2026-02-26Commissioners unanimously send a new draft, allowing data centers only as a conditional use in the Industrial General district, to the Planning Commission. Hampden Township
  • 2026-05-07Commissioners unanimously schedule a July 2 public hearing on the new data center rules; the president notes no data center has been proposed. Hampden Township
  • 2026-07-02After a public hearing, commissioners adopt Ordinance 2026-03 by a 5-0 roll call vote, creating Part 19, Zoning Requirements for Data Centers. Hampden Township
News

Coverage of this project

Sources

Know your rights

In Pennsylvania, the local zoning ordinance sets the route. A conditional use is decided by the elected governing body (supervisors, commissioners or council). A special exception or variance, and an appeal of a zoning officer’s decision, go to the Zoning Hearing Board. Each is a public hearing on a record: affected neighbors can ask for party status, cross-examine witnesses, and appeal. Municipalities can also adopt data center ordinances with enforceable standards.

Know your rights →

Take action

Organized community opposition is the single most effective check on these projects in Pennsylvania. Show up to hearings, submit comment when it is taken, support legal and expert-witness costs, and press your municipality for a real ordinance. Pennsylvania municipalities cannot simply freeze applications, but a curative amendment under the Planning Code gives them a defined window to fix a defective ordinance.

How communities push back →