Butler Township supervisors will hold a public hearing next month on two zoning changes that could clear the way for a larger AI data center campus at Highridge Business Park while tightening the noise limit such facilities must meet.
The hearing is set for 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the Butler Township Municipal Building, 211 Broad St., Ashland. Supervisors could vote on both ordinances the same evening at a regular meeting scheduled for 6 p.m., or immediately after the hearing ends, whichever is later.
The first measure, Ordinance No. 2026-2, would amend the township zoning map to add property along the west side of Interstate 81 and the south side of Route 4007, also known as Gordon Mountain Rd., to the Data Center Overlay – created last year – within the Interchange zoning district.
Specifically, the ordinance would fold in all of the parcel listed by the Schuylkill County Tax Assessment Office as 04-09-0037.001, along with a portion of parcel 04-09-0037.000. The notice says the second parcel is already in the Interchange district, and that the change would exclude the piece identified as Lot 1 on a final subdivision and annexation plan recorded in Plan Book 40, page 74, which sits in the Woodland Conservation (W-C) district.
The overlay expansion is a step Nebius Inc. needs in order to build its data center campus at Highridge to full scale.
As Coal Region Canary reported July 22, the company’s U.S. public affairs manager, Danielle Milich, told Schuylkill County Commissioners the project would span roughly 600 acres and six single-story buildings at maximum buildout, but only if Nebius can acquire two additional properties around the Walmart Distribution Center at Highridge and get them added to the township’s data center overlay.
Nebius already owns roughly 358 acres at the park, bought from NorthPoint Development for $187.5 million in April, according to county parcel records. The company has an agreement with PPL Electric for up to 1.2 gigawatts of grid power.
The second measure seeks to lower the maximum noise level allowed for data centers and data center accessory facilities from 75 decibels to 65 decibels, measured at the property lines of the parcel where the facility sits.
Noise has been among the most persistent public concerns raised about the project. Milich told commissioners the campus design includes acoustic sound walls, aftermarket “ultra-quiet” cooling fans and natural topographic buffers.
Nebius has scheduled its own public open house on the project from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6, at North Schuylkill Junior-Senior High School.
READ MORE:
Nebius Rep Provides Preliminary Info on Planned AI Data Center in Schuylkill County
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