An Act amending the act of July 31, 1968 (P.L.805, No.247), known as the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, in general provisions, further providing for definitions; and, in zoning, further providing for ordinance provisions.

PRINTER'S NO. 3497
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 2588
Session of
2026
INTRODUCED BY M. BROWN, GREINER, BANTA, WALLEN, ZIMMERMAN AND
WALSH, JUNE 1, 2026
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT, JUNE 2, 2026
AN ACT
Amending the act of July 31, 1968 (P.L.805, No.247), entitled
"An act to empower cities of the second class A, and third
class, boroughs, incorporated towns, townships of the first
and second classes including those within a county of the
second class and counties of the second through eighth
classes, individually or jointly, to plan their development
and to govern the same by zoning, subdivision and land
development ordinances, planned residential development and
other ordinances, by official maps, by the reservation of
certain land for future public purpose and by the acquisition
of such land; to promote the conservation of energy through
the use of planning practices and to promote the effective
utilization of renewable energy sources; providing for the
establishment of planning commissions, planning departments,
planning committees and zoning hearing boards, authorizing
them to charge fees, make inspections and hold public
hearings; providing for mediation; providing for transferable
development rights; providing for appropriations, appeals to
courts and penalties for violations; and repealing acts and
parts of acts," in general provisions, further providing for
definitions; and, in zoning, further providing for ordinance
provisions.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 107(a) of the act of July 31, 1968
(P.L.805, No.247), known as the Pennsylvania Municipalities
Planning Code, is amended by adding definitions to read:
Section 107. Definitions.--(a) The following words and
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phrases when used in this act shall have the meanings given to
them in this subsection unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise:
* * *
"Data center," a facility, campus of facilities or
interconnected array of facilities, whether under common or
separate ownership or tenancy, that meets all of the following:
(1) Is predominantly used to house operating servers or
similar data storage systems.
(2) Has an uninterruptible energy supply, generator backup
power, cooling system, cooling tower or other temperature
control infrastructure.
(3) Has a peak electric demand of ten megawatts or greater.
* * *
"Hyperscale data center," a data center located on a tract or
contiguous tracts of land exceeding five acres.
* * *
Section 2. Section 603 of the act is amended by adding
subsections to read:
Section 603. Ordinance Provisions.--* * *
(m) A zoning ordinance may not permit a hyperscale data
center as a use by right, conditional use or special exception
in a zoning district in which agriculture is a permitted use
unless the zoning ordinance does not permit a hyperscale data
center as a use by right, conditional use or special exception
in any other zoning district of the municipality.
(n) A zoning ordinance may not permit a data center as a use
by right, conditional use or special exception on a tract in an
agricultural zoning district if at least 50% of the tract
consists of any of the following:
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(1) Prime agricultural land.
(2) Land that contains soils of the fourth class as
defined by the United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resource and Conservation Services County Soil
Survey.
Section 3. The addition of section 603(m) and (n) of the act
shall apply to an application for development filed on or after
the effective date of this section.
Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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