JOE LINTNER | COLUMBIA SPY
Columbia Borough will have no updated zoning protections regarding data centers until at least November, it was noted at the October 6, 2026 council workshop. Council originally believed it would need to wait until December, until Code Manager Paula Diffenderfer revealed at the meeting that the proposed change had gone through. Council previously believed the proposed zoning change was not submitted to the Lancaster County Planning Commission in time for review.
The change, which the borough planning commission recommended for adoption on July 21, would alter the permitted uses for data centers. The proposal will now return to the borough to be advertised and adopted most likely in November.
Harrisburg is considering legislation that would let municipalities declare a moratorium while ordinances are updated. “If that passes, then we’ll be in a lot better shape,” Mayor Leo Lutz said.
Resident Kathy Embleton urged council to write the toughest ordinance possible. “I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t enact the strictest data center ordinance that we are legally able to,” she said.
Embleton named building size as the most protective limit. West Hempfield caps data centers at 120,000 square feet, she said, and Drumore Township at 100,000. By comparison, a 700,000-square-foot facility is roughly the size of three Walmart Supercenters. “The smaller the data center, the less noise, water usage, electricity usage, pollution, and heat generated,” Embleton said, adding that the borough’s legal counsel, Evan Gabel, had indicated a size cap would be legal.
Embleton asked council to have Gabel review stricter provisions from other municipalities, noting that more model ordinances exist now than when council members Kelly Murphy and Heather Zink drafted Columbia’s version. She also proposed a thumbs-up or thumbs-down vote on each point at the next meeting, saying that at the first public meeting too few members spoke for the audience to know where council stood.
Sharon Lintner asked why the borough relisted the McGinness property before zoning was finalized, and whether that creates a loophole. Zink said it does not, since the borough still controls the property and would tell buyers the zoning is changing. She said a buyer would need substantial work already completed to claim grandfathered status, and a land development approval would take too long to finish ahead of the change. The second request for proposals also warned bidders of the coming zoning changes.
Council held a public meeting on the data center ordinance on September 24, 2026. A second public meeting on the data center ordinance has not been scheduled, but Council President Eric Kauffman said he would announce a date as soon as possible. Council hopes to cover the remainder of the draft then.
The next regular council meeting is Tuesday, October 13, at 7 p.m.
