Lancaster County prepares for data centers as two city projects move forward.
LANCASTER, Pa. — Two large data centers are moving forward in Lancaster city as communities elsewhere in Lancaster County begin rewriting zoning rules for an industry that could dramatically increase demand for electricity while raising new questions about water use, noise, land development and local control.
For now, however, the distinction between what is actually being built and what might come next is important.
Lancaster city has two data center campuses in development. Elsewhere in the county, several municipalities are establishing regulations even though they have no data center application before them.
The two Lancaster projects are being developed by Chirisa Technology Parks at 216 Greenfield Road and 1375 Harrisburg Pike, properties that previously housed large printing operations. The city describes the projects collectively as the Lancaster AI Hub. (City of Lancaster, PA)
The planned hub is expected to include three large data center buildings spread across two campuses of about 75 acres each, according to a community benefits agreement between Lancaster and the property owners. (City of Lancaster, PA)
CoreWeave, a cloud computing company specializing in artificial intelligence infrastructure, announced last year that it intends to commit up to $6 billion to equip a Lancaster data center.
That figure is a planned commitment, not money already spent.
CoreWeave said the facility would initially provide 100 megawatts of computing capacity and could eventually expand to 300 megawatts. (CoreWeave)
The projects have placed Lancaster near the front of a much larger debate unfolding across Pennsylvania over how — and where — the rapidly growing data center industry should develop.
The power question
Electricity is perhaps the largest issue surrounding data center development.
Data centers house thousands of servers and other computing equipment that operate continuously. Large facilities can require enormous amounts of electricity both to operate that equipment and to keep it cool.
The scale of potential demand across PPL Electric Utilities’ territory is striking.
As of April, PPL reported 10 gigawatts of data center load under electric supply agreements and signed agreements representing another 15 gigawatts, according to a Lancaster County Planning Department guide for municipalities.
Those figures cover PPL’s broader service territory — not Lancaster County alone.
For comparison, PPL’s current systemwide peak electricity demand is approximately 7.5 gigawatts, according to the county planning document. (Lancaster County Planning)
That does not mean another 25 gigawatts of data center demand will necessarily materialize. Some proposed projects may never be constructed, and Pennsylvania officials have cautioned that many data center proposals remain speculative.
But the numbers illustrate the extraordinary scale of the industry’s potential electricity needs and why state and local governments have begun imposing new requirements before additional projects are built.
156 backup generators in the current Greenfield plan
The Greenfield Road project also provides a glimpse at the infrastructure required to keep a major data center operating.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection records describe a two-phase plan involving 156 diesel-powered emergency generators.
Phase 1, which has already received air-quality approval, calls for 72 generators. A pending Phase 2 application proposes another 84.
DEP received the Phase 2 application June 22 and published notice of it Sept. 26. (Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin)
The generators would provide emergency backup power rather than operate as the facility’s normal source of electricity.
Earlier versions of the Greenfield project contemplated 176 generators, but that number is no longer the best description of the current proposal. The latest DEP documents identify 156 generators across the two phases.
Water use capped under city agreement
Water consumption has become another concern surrounding data centers nationally because some cooling systems can require large quantities of water.
Lancaster’s agreement with the data center owners places a different set of restrictions on the city’s two campuses.
Municipal water consumption is capped at 20,000 gallons per day at each campus, according to the city’s summary of the community benefits agreement.
The agreement requires closed-loop cooling systems intended to minimize municipal water consumption. It also imposes requirements covering noise, landscaping, lighting, wastewater, emergency planning and backup-generator emissions. (City of Lancaster, PA)
For comparison, the city says the properties’ previous industrial user consumed an average of 100,000 to 125,000 gallons of water per day. (City of Lancaster, PA)
Those limits are contractual requirements for the Lancaster campuses and should not be assumed to represent how much water another data center elsewhere in Lancaster County would consume. Cooling technologies and facility designs vary considerably.
Townships are writing rules before projects arrive
While Lancaster’s projects advance through development and permitting, several municipalities elsewhere in the county are taking a different approach: establishing rules before a developer submits an application.
West Hempfield Township adopted an ordinance regulating data centers Sept. 1.
The township says explicitly that no data center applications were submitted during the ordinance process and that any future application will have to comply with the new regulations. (West Hempfield Township)
Penn Township took similar action after receiving an inquiry from a company interested in a possible data center.
But township officials said no proposal followed.
Penn’s rules restrict data centers to commercial/light industrial or industrial areas and require a special exception. Applications must address water use, energy management, emergency response, noise, electronic waste and heat generated by the facilities. (Penn Township, Lancaster County, PA)
Manor Township added data centers to its zoning ordinance in November 2025. They are permitted by special exception in the township’s Industrial Zone and are subject to specific development standards, including provisions intended to address noise. (Ecode360)
Drumore Township is now considering its own ordinance.
Its Planning Commission is scheduled to discuss the proposed regulations Oct. 27. (Drumore Township)
The pattern is significant.
These actions do not demonstrate that data centers are about to be built throughout Lancaster County. Instead, they show municipalities attempting to establish land-use rules before developers arrive.
Lancaster County’s Planning Department has also produced a guide specifically to help municipalities evaluate and regulate data centers. (Lancaster County Planning)
Pennsylvania puts new restrictions on the industry
The local debate is unfolding as Pennsylvania dramatically changes its approach to data center development.
Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order Aug. 18 requiring data center developers seeking state permits to make legally binding commitments to comply with the state’s Responsible Infrastructure Development, or GRID, requirements.
Those requirements address electricity costs, environmental protection, workforce development, transparency and community involvement.
The order also requires projects to obtain local approval before the Department of Environmental Protection evaluates their permit applications, removes data centers from Pennsylvania’s expedited permitting program and prohibits nondisclosure agreements for data center projects. (Pennsylvania Governor’s Office)
The state says it is aware of at least 100 proposed data centers in Pennsylvania.
But that number requires context.
The Shapiro administration says the vast majority have not formally approached the state about permitting or taken meaningful steps toward development. As of August, 58 projects had engaged with DEP in some fashion, 15 had applied for at least one DEP permit and only five had received all permits necessary for their first phase of development. (Pennsylvania Governor’s Office)
The state also says that, as of now, no AI data center is operational in Pennsylvania. (Pennsylvania Governor’s Office)
That does not mean Pennsylvania has no existing conventional data centers. The state’s statement specifically refers to the new generation of AI-focused facilities driving the current development boom.
Lancaster’s projects are further along than many
Against that statewide backdrop, Lancaster’s projects are notable because they have moved beyond the speculative stage.
The Greenfield Road campus has already received state approval for the air-quality plan associated with its first phase, while its second-phase application is now under review. (Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin)
CoreWeave has publicly identified itself as the customer for a Lancaster facility and announced its intention to commit up to $6 billion to equip it. (CoreWeave)
The city and property owners have also negotiated a detailed community benefits agreement governing the two campuses. (City of Lancaster, PA)
That puts Lancaster in a different position from communities confronting little more than rumors, developer inquiries or speculative proposals.
It also makes Lancaster something of an early test for how Pennsylvania communities will manage the arrival of large-scale AI infrastructure.
What comes next
The debate in Lancaster County is therefore not simply about whether residents support or oppose data centers.
There are several separate questions.
How much electricity should individual facilities be allowed to consume? Who pays for new electrical infrastructure? How should backup generators, noise and water use be regulated? How close should data centers be allowed to operate to homes and farms? What economic benefits should communities expect in exchange for hosting them?
And perhaps most importantly for Lancaster County’s townships: Should those questions be answered before a developer arrives with a specific site in mind?
West Hempfield, Penn, Manor and Drumore are already moving toward an answer.
For now, Lancaster County does not have dozens of confirmed data centers waiting to be built.
It has two significant projects moving forward in Lancaster city — and a growing number of local governments preparing for the possibility that they will not be the last.
