Manchester Township Restrictive Ordinance
Manchester Township, York County
A zoning response from Manchester Township, York County, adopted so the community would have standards in place rather than reacting to whatever arrives first.
The project by the numbers
Manchester Township, York County moved first and wrote its own rules
- Current stage
- Overlay and data center regulation ordinances adopted April 2026; no application pending.
- Decision body
- Manchester Township
- Top issues
- The questions here are about the rules themselves, including how far equipment must sit from homes, what noise limits apply, and whether a municipality can set terms before an application arrives.
Drafting more-restrictive ordinance vs. county model. East Manchester Township passed Curative Amendment Resolution No. 2025-14 at an October 21, 2025 public hearing, giving itself 180 days to cure defects in its draft ordinances, and at an April 8, 2026 public hearing the board approved both an Overlay District ordinance and a Data Center Regulation ordinance. The township states plainly that no data center plan proposals have been submitted and the ordinances are proactive, adopted so that any future plan is regulated for public health, safety, and welfare.
Coverage of this project
- 2026-04-08 FOX43East Manchester Township approves 2 new data center ordinancesOverlay and regulation ordinances adopted proactively with no application pending
- 2026-04-08 East Manchester TownshipOverlay District and Data Center Regulation Ordinances, April 8 2026 public hearingCurative Amendment Resolution 2025-14 gave 180 days to cure ordinance defects
- 2025-08-24 ABC27 (WHTM)Midstate communities prepare for data centersYork County municipalities zoning ahead of applications
Know your rights
In Pennsylvania, a data center on industrial land usually needs a special exception or conditional use, decided by a local Zoning Hearing Board after a public, quasi-judicial hearing. Neighbors can request party status, cross-examine witnesses, and build an evidentiary record. Municipalities can also write 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 ask your municipality for a moratorium and a real ordinance.
How communities push back →