At the September 1 regular meeting for Milford Township's Board of Supervisors, officials held a public hearing on additions to its preexisting data center ordinance to further cover some pertinent topics that the supervisors felt were important. The adjustments to the ordinance include considerations for high-density computing systems, data centers, and data center accessory uses and structures in Planned Industrial districts.

            While there have not yet been any applications for a data center in Milford Township, the supervisors are interested in comprehensively covering all the concerns associated with data centers should any developer seek to construct one in Milford Township; hence, these amendments to update the requirements.

            There was no voting on the amendments, but Chairman Christian Haberle proposed three items on behalf of the supervisors: general language clarification, the requirement of a closed-loop cooling system, and the creation of three different tiers of data centers based on size in order to differentiate between them.

            In addition to the supervisor's proposed changes, many public comments have been received by Milford Township, and all of these comments have been considered by the supervisors. More public comments were made by those in attendance at the meeting, and a new ordinance reflecting the received comments will be prepared and readvertised to the public in the near future.

            The township cannot totally outlaw data center development, as it is not an unlawful use under Pennsylvania law. Milford's solicitor, Kate Harper, explained to the public that there is "no court case" that says a data center is an unlawful use, and as such, there must be some area where it is permitted. Milford officials claim they are doing what they can to get ahead by creating a designated location for them in the Planned Industrial zone and imposing legal restrictions on them to minimize any potential impact to residents of the township.

            In addition to the data center ordinance, supervisors also held a conditional use hearing for D.R. Horton, who is endeavoring to build 106 single-family homes off West Pumping Station Road, near Target. During the conditional use hearing, the developer answered pertinent questions such as how suitable this construction is for this property, how much open space is proposed, how much impervious surface would be constructed, lot sizes, parking requirements, and the existing environmental character of the property.

            D.R. Horton's engineer addressed these requirements and explained the details of the property and the plans for development to a large public crowd, and it was revealed that all the pertinent requirements were met by the proposed plan.

            Stormwater was a concern of the Milford supervisors: the township asked how the other adjacent residents could be protected from runoff in the event of a failure by the HOA to successfully manage its own stormwater management facilities.

            The applicant's engineer discussed these issues with the supervisors and went over technical specifications for the systems themselves to clarify how stormwater will be alleviated on the site.

            The other major concern regarding the property development is the traffic impact. W Pumping Station is already a well-traveled road, and adding a development of homes along that road would undoubtedly increase traffic. As part of the development, the developer proposed that changes to W Pumping Station would be executed to alleviate this issue. This development would take place on the property of Saint Isidore, which has already expressed willingness to allow these developments in order to address the problems.

            Proposed developments include speed bumps, enhanced intersections, a new connector road, and a realignment of W Pumping Station to relieve both speed issues and traffic congestion in this area.

            The decision on this development's conditional use will take place within 45 days. That allows for time for the township to receive adjusted plans based on the comments at this meeting.

            Regarding other business, a bid to contract road line painting was approved for roughly $55,000. Fifteen to 20 percent of the township's roadway will be improved in this repainting project.