Dorrance Twp. hearing on possible data center continued until May

DORRANCE TWP. — The Dorrance Township zoning hearing board voted on Monday to continue a hearing on an application by Brewster Land Company LLC on the claim that its zoning ordinance, prior to a recent amendment, unlawfully excluded data centers, because the board needs more time to consider testimony.

The board is expected to make its decision on the claim at a May 6 hearing at 6:30 p.m., held inside the Dorrance Township Fire Hall, 402 Saint Johns Road, Wapwallopen.

If the board agrees with the Brewster Land Company that its zoning ordinance is exclusionary, it would then decide whether to grant site-specific relief to allow the company to build a data center on a parcel of land it owns on South Main Road, located in the B-2 Highway Business District.

The amendment to the zoning ordinance adopted on Sept. 22, 2025, allows data centers only in industrial zones.

If the zoning hearing board denies its claim, the company can appeal the decision.

The hearing on Monday lasted about 2.5 hours and featured testimony from two expert witnesses on behalf of the applicant, as well as public comment.

The hearing originally began on Oct 1, 2025, and, due to its length, zoning hearing board solicitor Christopher Opiel explained that it was continued and expected to resume on Nov. 13, 2025.

However, the applicant twice requested a continuance, which was granted, resulting in the hearing being rescheduled to Monday.

The Brewster Land Company has not submitted an actual application to build a data center in Dorrance Township. It has only filed the substantive validity challenge.

Witnesses for the Brewster Land Company argued that the ordinance, as it existed prior to its amendment, did not “reasonably accommodate data center facilities.”

Of note, Erik Hetzel, an independent planning consultant with over 25 years of experience, gave his professional opinion that the Dorrance Township zoning ordinance, prior to its amendment, failed to address or define data centers and accessory structures as a land use.

He also stated that the ordinance provides “no clear objective standards” against which a data center could be measured as a potential special exception.

Hetzel further argued that the limited space in the industrial zone is almost completely occupied by existing uses and “doesn’t reflect a realistic inventory of vacant developable industrial land.”

Justin Moceri, a civil engineer with Kimley-Horn, also testified on behalf of The Brewster Land Company.

During public comment, Dan Austin of Yeager Road, who lives next to land that the company owns, asked how the ordinance, which was originally drafted nearly 20 years ago, could be exclusionary against data centers if data centers didn’t exist back then.

“It escapes me how you can claim we excluded them when we didn’t know about them,” he said, which was met by applause from the audience.

He continued, “Unconscious omission, to me, is not exclusion.”

Edward Warner, a member of the Butler Township planning commission, also argued that nothing in the ordinance is exclusionary.

“There’s a special exemption that can be followed. The burden of proof for a special exemption falls on the applicant. […] Anything that gives special exception is up to the applicant to prove that they benefit the township. I have heard nothing tonight that would make me vote in that direction,” he said.

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