Brown Township's New Data Center Ordinance Sets Development Rules

Executive Summary

Brown Township, Mifflin County, PA, has unanimously adopted a new ordinance establishing a formal regulatory framework for data center development — a move that shifts the area from an unstructured development environment to one with defined rules for siting, permitting, and infrastructure expectations. For investors and developers, clarity is currency: a codified process typically compresses deal timelines and reduces entitlement risk. Landowners in the township now operate under a new zoning overlay they must understand before listing or transacting. The InfraSale takeaway is direct — Mifflin County has just become a more legible market for data center capital, and early movers should be evaluating land positions now.

What Happened

Brown Township supervisors voted unanimously to approve a new ordinance governing data center development within the township. The vote followed a public hearing that gave community members an opportunity to weigh in before the measure passed. Unanimous approval signals that local leadership reached consensus — not always a given for infrastructure-adjacent land use decisions — suggesting the ordinance was structured to address community concerns while still enabling development.

The ordinance establishes rules specific to data center land use in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. While the full text of the ordinance was not available in the source material, the regulatory action itself marks a deliberate policy choice by township supervisors to get ahead of data center interest rather than respond to it reactively.

Industry context: Rural and exurban Pennsylvania townships have seen increasing developer inquiries tied to data center siting, driven by available land, lower real estate costs, and proximity to mid-Atlantic power infrastructure. Brown Township's ordinance places it among the growing number of municipalities that have chosen to create a dedicated regulatory lane rather than force data center proposals through general commercial or industrial zoning processes.

Source: Fox43

Why This Matters

Municipal-level data center ordinances are becoming an important signal layer for the industry. When a township passes bespoke data center zoning, it is effectively communicating to the development community that it has considered the asset class and is prepared to engage — a meaningful contrast to jurisdictions where developers must spend months educating planning boards before a project can advance.

Unanimous local approval matters beyond the vote count. It indicates that the public hearing process resolved the most contentious objections — likely around noise, traffic, water use, visual impact, and tax contribution — before the ordinance took effect. That reduces the probability of a future moratorium or amendment that could strand a project mid-entitlement.

The ordinance could also function as a template. Other Mifflin County townships and neighboring rural Pennsylvania municipalities watching this process may adopt similar frameworks, gradually expanding the defined development zone for data center infrastructure across the region.

For the broader market, this is one more data point confirming that institutional demand for powered land has now diffused beyond Tier 1 markets into secondary and rural geographies — and that local governments are responding with policy, not just reaction.

Power & Interconnection Impact

Any data center ordinance implicitly frames power as a threshold issue, even if the ordinance text itself focuses on zoning. Data centers at utility scale typically require dedicated substation access, and township-level approval does not guarantee interconnection capacity — that conversation happens with the serving utility and, in Pennsylvania, within the PJM Interconnection footprint.

Industry context: Mifflin County sits within PJM territory. PJM's interconnection queue has grown substantially over the past two years, and new load interconnection requests — including data center loads — face multi-year study timelines at many points of interconnection. Developers evaluating Brown Township sites should conduct early-stage utility capacity screening before committing to land.

The ordinance may, however, incentivize the local utility to engage proactively with the township on infrastructure planning, particularly if multiple developers begin submitting applications under the new framework. A defined pipeline of potential load is a stronger basis for utility infrastructure investment than speculative developer interest.

Land, Zoning & Permitting Impact

The most immediate effect of the ordinance is zoning clarity. Prior to its passage, a data center proposal in Brown Township would have required an interpretation of existing commercial or industrial zoning categories — a process subject to board discretion and legal challenge. A dedicated data center ordinance removes that ambiguity.

Assumption: The ordinance likely establishes dimensional standards (setbacks, height limits, lot coverage), use-specific criteria (noise attenuation, screening, access road requirements), and possibly a conditional use or special exception process requiring public review for larger facilities. These are common components of data center zoning ordinances adopted in other Pennsylvania municipalities.

For landowners, the new framework is a double-edged instrument. Parcels that meet the ordinance's criteria become more valuable because developers can underwrite entitlement risk with greater confidence. Parcels that fall outside permitted zones or fail to meet site criteria may face effective exclusion from data center use, potentially limiting their highest-value exit.

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Permitting timelines — historically one of the largest sources of cost overrun in data center development — should compress under a dedicated framework, assuming staff are trained on the new standards and application requirements are well-defined.

Investment Takeaway

Zoning clarity is a valuation event. Land parcels in Brown Township that meet the new ordinance's criteria for data center use have effectively been re-rated upward. Investors holding or evaluating sites in Mifflin County should map their positions against the new zoning parameters immediately.
First-mover advantage is real but time-limited. The ordinance is new; developer pipeline is thin. Investors who move on qualified sites in the next 6–12 months acquire before comparable transaction data inflates comps.
PJM interconnection remains the binding constraint. Zoning approval does not resolve power delivery. Any investment thesis must include a credible path to substation access and load interconnection within PJM's study process.
The ordinance signals a receptive local government. Unanimous approval reduces political risk for projects that comply with the framework — a factor that matters to lenders and equity partners underwriting entitlement exposure.
Watch for neighboring townships. If Brown Township's ordinance performs well — meaning applications come in and development proceeds without major conflict — adjacent municipalities may follow, expanding the investable geography.

InfraSale Market Angle

Brown Township's action positions Mifflin County as an emerging, policy-ready location for data center development in central Pennsylvania. For investors and developers on InfraSale, this is the moment to run a site screen — before developer competition thickens and land pricing catches up to the new regulatory reality.

The audience most immediately served by this development is the land investor or developer who has been tracking secondary Pennsylvania markets for powered or power-proximate sites. The ordinance reduces entitlement risk, which is the single largest source of uncertainty in early-stage data center site underwriting. Landowners with qualifying parcels should be actively marketing them into the data center developer channel.

Monitoring future amendments to the ordinance — and watching whether Mifflin County or neighboring municipalities follow with complementary zoning actions — will indicate whether this is an isolated local decision or the beginning of a regional policy shift.

Market Signal

Location: Brown Township, Mifflin County, PA
Primary Issue: New data center regulations
Infrastructure Theme: Zoning and permitting
Who Benefits: Data center developers and investors seeking new opportunities
Who's at Risk: Local landowners who may face stricter zoning requirements
InfraSale Takeaway: Investors should evaluate the implications of the new ordinance for strategic land acquisitions

Take Action

Brown Township's new ordinance has drawn a clear line: Mifflin County is open for data center development, and the regulatory framework is now in place to support it. Investors and landowners who act on this signal ahead of the broader market will have the strongest negotiating position. Sites that qualify under the new zoning will move — the question is whether you're on the right side of that transaction.

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FAQ

What does the new data center ordinance entail?

Brown Township's ordinance establishes a formal regulatory framework specific to data center land use within the township. Industry context: Such ordinances typically define permitted zones, dimensional standards, use-specific operational criteria, and the review process required for project approval. The full ordinance text was not available in the source material, but the unanimous approval following a public hearing suggests the framework balances development opportunity with community protections.

How will this ordinance affect local land values?

Parcels in Brown Township that qualify under the new data center zoning standards are likely to see upward valuation pressure, as the entitlement risk premium for those sites decreases. Conversely, parcels outside the permitted areas or unable to meet site criteria may see their ceiling capped relative to data center use. The clearest value creation goes to landowners who already hold qualifying sites and can now market them with a defined regulatory pathway in hand.

What opportunities does this create for investors?

The ordinance creates a defined acquisition target: land in Brown Township that meets the new zoning criteria for data center development. Investors who move quickly can potentially acquire sites before comparable transaction data establishes a new pricing baseline in the market. The combination of a receptive local government, a PJM interconnection footprint, and lower land costs relative to primary markets makes this a credible site screening candidate for data center capital.