Upper Mount Bethel Township seal

UPPER MT. BETHEL TWP., Pa.- Local government leaders don't take a lot of overnight field trips in the name of official business. 

But the possibility of a big-name tenant setting up shop in Upper Mount Bethel Township is prompting supervisors to consider hitting the road. 

During its regular meeting Monday night, the board will discuss traveling to either Ohio or Virginia in the name of learning more about data centers.

To be clear, there's no official deal that township leaders can talk about; they're bound by a confidentially agreement, said board Chairman John Bermingham. But it's long been rumored that a data center will be part of the township's massive River Pointe Logistics Center.

River Pointe is an 800-acre project along the Delaware River, near River Road, Potomac Street and Route 611. 

“I can’t say what type of development is coming in here, but if it was a data center, we want to know what data centers are all about," Bermingham said. "How noisy are they? How does a town out in Ohio or Virginia feel about a data center in their town? How beneficial is it for the community?

We’re doing our due diligence on really all types of development that could come in here, but this specific trip is for data centers.”

As of Monday morning, supervisors had not yet zeroed in on a specific destination in Ohio or Virginia, Bermingham said, but felt either one of those two states would be ideal: “There aren’t any data centers next door. There are some in Pennsylvania, but Pennsylvania is sort of a new territory for these things. Virginia is more established, Ohio is more established."

During the trip, which would probably last two or three days, supervisors would aim to meet with government officials there, as well as tour the data center and speak with nearby residents and business owners. "We just want to know, has it been beneficial to your community?" Bermingham said. "Has it brought in a lot of tax money?”

In what is perhaps another indicator of the progression of plans to ink a deal with a data center developer, the township will hold a public hearing to amend its zoning ordinance to add data centers and data center campuses as permitted and by-right uses.

The amendment defines a data center as "a building which is occupied primarily by computers and/or telecommunications and related equipment, including supporting equipment, where information is processed, transferred and/or stored. A data center may include data center equipment."

It also establishes guidelines for how future data centers would operate, with restrictions on noise, parking, building height, and loading dock size.  

Bermingham said the public hearing will most likely be held on May 12. The approval of the zoning ordinance change would be a major step in advancing plans with that unnamed developer. 

“I’d say everything is positive right now," Bermingham said. "Our major concern was keeping warehouses out and keeping truck traffic out. And with the potential development coming in here there is limited to no truck traffic and the potential for a lot of tax revenue in our township, which will help the people.”

Monday's meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the township building at 387 Ye Olde Highway.