The March 10 meeting of the Lower Macungie Township Planning Commission involved the zoning ordinance update presentation and discussion.

There was also a staff and department report at the end of the meeting.

The meeting began with a moment of silence for David Brooman, a former township solicitor who died recently.

The zoning ordinance update discussion began by talking about data centers.

Township Planner Nathan Jones said he had taken everyone’s input and looked at what could be done legally.

There was a discussion about limiting water and electricity usage for data centers. The idea of having the data centers use and possibly create renewable energy was suggested.

Jones talked about the idea of requiring a yearly report on the data center’s sound decibel readings to be carried out by a third party.

A motion to conditionally recommend the Data Center Ordinance for approval passed 5-0.

There was also a conversation about some of the administrative zoning changes from previous meetings. These changes were for the township’s use to better enforce the zoning ordinances.

One thing discussed was the township’s parking table. This is a formula used to decide how many parking spaces a new development needs.

There was also a department report at the end of the meeting. One thing discussed was the grant application to expand the area’s trail systems.

It was also mentioned the dental office located at 6048 Hamilton Blvd. was scheduled to be in front of the Lower Macungie Township Board of Commissioners next month.

The next Lower Macungie Township Planning Commission meeting is scheduled April 14. Usually the planning commission meets the second Tuesday of every month and occasionally there is a workshop meeting on the third Tuesday of the month. There will be no workshop in March.

Meetings begin 6 p.m. and currently all planning commission meetings will be held both in person and online with a video recording uploaded to the Lower Macungie Township YouTube channel after the fact.