All right, uh welcome everyone, and um we're gonna get kickstart this public hearing.

Um today is Wednesday, June 6th, and uh we'll start with a roll call, please.

Uh Mr.

Bender, President, Miss Moda Ms.

Santos Miss Gerlock.

Oh, she's here.

Ms.

Santos, is you I'm sorry, I missed her.

Mr.

Nathalie.

Here, Mr.

Pumgo.

Here.

Miss Appha here, Mr.

President, you're all here.

Awesome, great.

Thank you.

Um, um, so Allentown City Council tonight will take testimony and consider for possible adoption and ordinance defining and regulating data centers at a public hearing right now, 6 p.m.

Copies of the full text of this ordinance and reports in this legislation are available on our website.

Immediate immediately following this public hearing, city council may adopt this amendment to the zoning ordinance at the regularly scheduled city council meeting right at 6 30 or whenever we are finished with this.

To avoid any confusion, I'd like to note that testimony tonight will be taken on this ordinance before council, Bill 20 and Bill 20 only.

The meeting regarding the proposed data center project at 2401 and Mayus Avenue is being considered at the Allentown Planning Commission meeting, which takes place on Tuesday, June 9th at 12 15 p.m.

right here in council chambers.

Residents will then be able to provide public comment regarding that particular project at that meeting with the Allentown Planning Commission.

The Mayus Avenue Data Center is not a matter before city council at this time.

Public testimony tonight will be focused on Bill 20.

All other comments can be shared at the city council meeting after this, during courtesy of the floor, immediately following a public hearing.

Um so we're good.

Everybody wants to know about absolutely a lot came here because uh mayus.

So can you say that again?

So listen, so if you're here to talk about 2401 on Mayus Avenue, at this junction, we we are not taking testimony on that, but after this meeting, that's an opportunity for you to do so.

So we're just saying this is a public hearing, we're following legal legal matters here.

All we're talking about is Bill 20.

But after this meeting, which would be around 6 30, 6 45, we will have courtesy of the floor where any members of the public can discuss their concerns or feedback on 2401 and Mayus Avenue.

So that will happen immediately after this.

So um, so that would be after this public hearing.

I'm gonna hand it off to our solicitor, uh, Ms.

Montero for the legal basis.

The purpose of this hearing is for public commentary on bill 20 as prescribed by the Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code.

Maybe you could read the bill.

All right, so Bill 20 amends uh part two general legislation chapter 660 zoning, article five uses, table 660-4, use table, and section 660-38 manufacturing and industry group adding the use category data center use and article 14 measurements and definitions, section 660-135, terms beginning with D, and section 660-149, terms beginning with R, adding the definition of data center, data center accessory use and renewable energy.

Okay, thank you.

So we're gonna um hand it off to our administration, our um our planning director and managing director.

Um you have the floor.

Okay, so what is on the table to be discussed uh this evening at this hearing is bill 20.

Bill 20 is an amendment to the city of Allentown zoning code that creates a data center right now.

Anyone that wants to apply for for a data, so we don't have that, that doesn't exist in our code.

It is just considered a manufacturing use.

So if you were to apply now, and people who have in the past applied have applied, and it's just been a manufacturing use.

So this creates some checks and balances, some provisions, it it creates extra oversight on proposed data centers.

It initiates you have to go through an additional level of planning through planning and zoning, and it puts some safeguards in.

If you vote for this, if you if you vote for this amendment tonight, the next person that tries to uh undertake a data center in the city of Allentown will have to follow these rules.

If you don't vote for this tonight, data centers are still permitted, but they're just gonna fall under manufacturing, general manufacturing.

So that's what's on the that's that's that's a that's uh that's an overview.

I'm gonna turn it over to our planning director who's gonna give a more in-depth explanation.

Hi, good afternoon.

Thank you for the introduction.

Um my name is Jennifer Gomez, I'm the planning director for the city.

Um I'll say just because I borrowed a slide here, I'm also on the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, and I took one of their slides before talking about data centers, and this is their their slide, not mine, but they show this every time we before any um they review all data centers at the Lehigh Valley, all data center ordinances, and they always show this slide because it um demonstrates or it at least talks about the laws that we work within and um why we make the decisions and the regulations that we do.

All of the authority to regulate zoning is given to us through the MPC, the municipal planning code.

All of the land development regulations come through the MPC.

It gets very specific what the city can and can't regulate, down to things like how many number of days we can take to review land development applications.

In addition to the MPC, it's rooted in in the US Constitution and also in case law, which um gives uh a lot of precedent, legal precedent in terms of how we handle matters.

And what it comes down to for uses is the cities cannot ban uses.

We have to allow uses somewhere.

But we also have a lot of control in terms of planning for those uses and making the choices that are right for our community.

And that's what we're trying to do here is to be proactive and with Bill 20 and create some data center regulations for this new use that's um emerging and evolving throughout the Lehigh Valley and throughout the country.

So if you could take me to the next slide, please.

Um development process.

There's been a lot of confusion, I think, in the media and and on various websites as to what we're even hearing today.

Um we we actually did get a data center proposal come in at 2401 West Damayas Avenue.

That is being reviewed, and it's being reviewed under the existing zoning ordinance.

That doesn't mean the city doesn't have rules, it just means that we don't have rules for data centers.

And so we still have all of the city's codes.

We have the health codes, we have the public safety codes, we have the planning codes, the shade tree codes, stormwater engineering, fire, um, importantly to this.

All of the codes that we would review any other project, we have external reviews that happen on every single major land development, and that includes the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, the Allentown Environmental Advisory Council, we send comments to Lanta, School Board, Lehigh County Authority.

So right now we're going through that process with the one that's in.

Again, we don't have regulation.

It's not that we don't have regulations, we just um have to use the ones that we have in place that apply to all developments.

So there is a planning commission scheduled for it, June 9th.

I encourage everyone to just stay on top of the websites.

Um, I'm not sure, you know, sometimes they might we're we're about to release their staff report, they might um they may or may not table based on the results.

Um, but that is the process that we go through.

A lot of people have said, how do I participate?

How do I get my voice heard for that particular meeting?

Um I would attend.

That's that's um that's the strongest way to to voice your um uh to have your voice heard is to attend.

Um but if you can't attend, um we have uh a public comment email.

So it's public.comment at Allentown PA.gov, and please email them.

We're collecting all comments.

We've received um quite a few comments in the last couple of days, especially.

Um please keep sending those comments.

We will compile everything, and those will all become part of the record that travels with this plan.

So that putting that hopefully aside for a minute, we want to talk about how to be proactive and how to get the best rules and regulations in place for the city.

And that is what we're looking at for Bill 20.

So if I could look at the next slide, please.

So Bill 20, data center ordinance.

I think that again, perhaps maybe there is some perception that our goal here is to be more permissive and allow data centers by right.

That is absolutely not the case.

Um, we're actually trying to control this use and set minimum standards and regulations and additional reviews so we can evaluate it to make sure that the infrastructure and all of the external impacts of this use are addressed.

So, what does that look like in terms of code form?

Location.

This for the first time, it says here's a data center use, it defines it, it says which zoning districts it can go in.

Right now, it's the two most intense industrial zoning designations.

We also have setbacks from property lines, giving specific separation for residential uses and other sensitive uses like churches and schools and daycares, and um we also have minimum lot size requirements for larger facilities, and this is an important protection in Allentown because it says if you're going to do it, a large one anyway, 50,000 square feet or more, um, then you need to be on a really large lot within those industrial areas.

That narrows the number of locations where they can go substantially within Allentown.

We're also a city largely of smaller lots and infill development, so it really kind of pushes them towards our industrial areas and corridors.

There are some areas we need to watch out for.

There are some adjacencies to residential, but we will continue to look and mitigate for that.

The ordinance also sets forth landscaping and buffering standards.

If a data center is proposed, we want to make sure that they have extensive landscaping and screening to control both the external appearance and then also the impact, such as noise.

We are going to require pre and post noise studies and also examining things like vibration and other environmental impacts far beyond what are in our codes today.

In addition, the code proposes water and sewage reporting.

We want to make sure that we know how much water these are using and that we have an appropriate amount of infrastructure in place to accommodate that, and they're not taking more water than we can plan for.

We're examining the energy demand.

We're asking for renewable energy.

We wanted to require renewable energy.

We were told we can't legally do that based on the rules and limitations, but we'll work on it if there's any legal way that we can get in there.

We'll continue to examine that because it would be, I think, ideal if we had some renewable energy production on site with these uses.

So we can continue to strive for that, but right we're told right now that's not legal.

Emergency response and fire safety planning.

We will review involve fire with all of these reviews.

Our fire, our fire department has been very involved in the review of the existing data center proposal that has come in.

We will look at electronic waste management, and we also have minimum design standards and aesthetics.

And even with all of these regulations, which is heavily regulated and prescribed through this ordinance, we realize that not all data centers are the same, and we will need to do a case by case assessment of these data centers.

So through that, we're not saying this data center is a permitted use.

So if you go to our use table, we're not putting a P and a perm permitted, we're putting a special exception.

And what that special exception means is that there is a long process and thorough assessment that needs to go in to that review.

And so what that looks like is first coming in, going through our planning office.

Coming through our planning office, it will go to the environmental advisory committee, which to date has not had a huge role with a use determination, and they will evaluate all of the studies, and then it'll go to our planning commission to provide comments on the site before it goes to our zoning hearing board, and there will be a public hearing at the zoning hearing board if all goes forward with this use.

So this is the general package.

I think we've received a lot of feedback in terms of areas where additional standards are desired and where additional we have feedback from their broadcasting in the hallway.

Okay.

So what you're hearing is the feedback.

So we have to close this or to eliminate the feedback.

If it gets warm, we can crack that door for some ventilation.

Hold on, Ms.

Gordon.

Okay, go ahead, Ms.

Gomez.

Hi.

So this is the hold on everyone.

Um Ms.

Gomez has the floor right now.

Thank you.

So this is the starting point.

Right now, the city doesn't have any of these standards for data centers.

We want to add them.

And we can do this as a starting point.

And we've heard a lot of suggestions in the last couple days in particular about ways that the ordinance could behaps be strengthened or improved or add additional standards.

And for that, I'll say that we're open to those discussions.

We don't want this to be the end of the discussion.

It can be the beginning of the discussion, but we do want to protect the city, and we do want to get some rules in place to do that.

So I just want to make sure everyone keeps that in mind that we do want to give the cities protections, which is why we are here.

So if we can go to the next slide, this has taken us a long time to get to where we are.

I think data centers are an emerging use, they're changing, they're evolving, and they've really started to hit the Lehigh Valley last year, late last year.

I think a lot more media attention with it.

So when that started happening, we said, okay, here is this new use.

We need to regulate this new use, we need to look into it.

It's not an easy process to adopt a zoning code.

It is a long process with a lot of reviews.

We started in winter of this year, and we coordinated with the environmental advisory committee, and we said we need your help, please help us make this ordinance in a way that's defensible and protects the environment.

Um, and we said we need your help.

Please help us make this ordinance in a way that's defensible and protects the environment.

Um we then took all of that to the city council.

So that was in January and March.

We went to City Council.

City Council introduced the ordinance, then we went to Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, um, comprehensive planning meeting in April, then we went to Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Fool Commission, also the Allentown Planning Commission, also in April, and then we went to the Allentown Economic Development Committee meeting in on May 14th.

So this was I think six um at public meetings that were attended to discuss this use.

Um and all in preparation for this public hearing.

It took us all of these meetings to get to where we are today and have something to show you guys.

And this is a really important date for us because on May 17th, we advertised this public um this bill.

And this gave the city the advertising of this bill gave the city a lot of legal protections because now we have all of these standards that we can fall back on.

Um I think uh we'll continue to work on it.

We'll continue to approve it, and um we're open to feedback and comments.

Concludes my comments.

Okay, um, thank you, Ms.

Gomez.

So um this is a public hearing, so I'm gonna open it up to the public.

Uh reminder, this is um testimony on bill 20.

So everything we just saw on um Bill 20.

You're welcome to comment.

If there are any other comments you have regarding other data center issues or locations, save those for our next meeting right after this one.

Um, courtesy of the floor, go ahead.

Sure.

Um hold on.

Um can someone open prop open the back door just to get some fresh air in, please.

All right, thank you.

Uh go go ahead.

All right, we're all set.

Um good evening, everyone.

My name is Kyle Robsky, and I am the chair of Allentown's environmental advisory council.

We are a volunteer board with the purpose to advise with non-binding recommendations on matters related to environmental protection and sustainability here in the city of Allentown.

I want to begin tonight by thanking everyone in this room, our city staff, our elected officials, and most importantly, the Allentown residents and taxpayers that have shown up here tonight.

Industry in our city has always brought risk to our natural environment and various forms of pollution.

The burdens of the of this pollution have often been disproportionately distributed onto our most vulnerable populations.

It is not right, and it needs to change, and we need to move towards a more equitable and healthy Allentown that works for all of us, not just some.

The EAC has sent over four-year review letters that included detailed recommendations for the bill, and ultimately a letter of support that should be included on the agenda.

You all know that this isn't my first time at the podium discussing the importance of our environment and our natural resources with the value they bring to our community.

On many occasions, this room is not as populated as it should be.

But tonight it is, and that means something.

I want to maintain decorum, but can I please have a show of hands from the residents in the room who care about protecting our environment from data centers?

Yes.

I would raise my second hand if it wasn't holding the microphone.

The people here care about our city.

They care about our air quality and our elders who suffer with respiratory issues.

They care about our water quality and our children who cannot safely cool off in our waterways on a hot summer day.

They care about the future of our city, and that is exactly why I'm urging your support for the passage of Bill 20.

This bill that is of discussion is a result of months of transparent, collaborative, and diligent work with intent to protect our residents and our environment.

We're extremely grateful and blessed here as a city to have such an amazing team and our city staff.

They have worked tireless tirelessly over the course of several months to develop the wording in this amendment.

They engaged the EAC early on in the process and ensured the final language includes a review of proposed data center developments by the EAC, giving the public critical access to these plans ahead of time.

On our Monday night meeting, we saw a record number of attendees, and we hope this engagement continues in the future when future proposals inevitably come up for review.

The EAC is encouraged to see strong requirements for environmental review, infrastructure and water capacity analysis, energy planning, noise evaluation, heat mitigation, and site buffering.

These studies help identify and address potential impacts early, protecting our residents, our environmental resource resources, and our taxpayer dollars.

Importantly, the specific requirements for any proposal will be determined through review by the city, the planning commission, and the AC, allowing standards of mitigation measures to be tailored to evolving technologies and the unique conditions of each site over time.

I cannot stress enough the importance of the passage of this bill for the sake of our environment and our residents.

I thank you all for your time here tonight, and I strongly urge you to bring this monumental effort to the finish line for the protection of our city and our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, and I'm with an organization.

So do I get five minutes?

I don't know that I'll use all five minutes, but I thought it was just five.

Okay, thank you.

Um so my name is Ginny Marcel Kurzlake.

Um do I need to spell that?

Um, it's okay.

We have a third number.

Um, and I'm a resident in Pennsylvania.

I'm the senior organizer for food and water watch Pennsylvania.

And um, I'll start by saying for the past year, I have been constantly across the state, mostly in central and eastern Pennsylvania, helping municipalities pass protective ordinances for this new use, just like you are aiming to do right now, and I commend you for that.

Umfortunately, I uh would like to say that this ordinance that you have before you, this data center ordinance is unfortunately one of the worst ones I've seen.

And um, you just heard the gentleman say that there were a record number of people on the meeting last night with the EAC.

I attended part of that meeting, and people were in opposition to this.

They had grave concerns about it.

I'm going to raise three key ones for you.

First of all, this uh ordinance allows this high impact industrial use in both the IM and the IG district.

You do not have to do that.

You do not have to open up both of those districts for this.

And this, again, this is a high impact industrial use.

It's not compatible with the description of the industrial uh general zone.

This should be restricted to the industrial manufacturing zone.

Secondly, this 200-foot setback from homes and other sensitive receptors is grossly insufficient.

It's well documented.

It's well documented by emissions from hyperscale data centers, extends even for miles from the source.

And as a result, setbacks in Pennsylvania that we are seeing now from other municipalities are on the order of thousands of feet from sensitive receptors like homes.

Um, I could name a bunch of them, but maybe the ones that mean the most to you are the most recent guidelines released by Chester County and Montgomery County planning commissions that advise that data centers shall be a minimum of 1,000 feet from residential uses, residential districts, and or other sensitive receptors.

Um I read in some minutes that uh an ordinance, a model ordinance from Penn Future had been used to craft this.

Maybe that's where the 200 feet came from.

The only other place I've seen that is from industry uh model ordinances that they have presented.

I want you to know that Penn Future has recently retracted that 200 feet.

Okay, so that's no longer recommended, even by Penn Future.

Um, thirdly, there are no decommissioning requirements in this model ordinance in this data center ordinance, and that would include financial security.

There is a very real risk because this technology is advancing, that these huge energy and water consuming facilities will no longer be needed and viable, and so they will walk away in five to ten years.

The industry is even saying that.

So you leave you lead your your community with these stranded assets, and also the cost.

You'd either have that blight or you would have the cost of cleaning this site up if you haven't required that financial security, and that would fall on all the taxpayers.

And it would be a lot of money.

Um, I see I have just one minute left.

I want to address one thing that we heard from I think the planning uh director.

Um it was stated that if a data center ordinance came to you right now, it could go anywhere and it would fall under manufacturing uses.

I've thoroughly read your zoning ordinance.

Data centers are not a specified use under your manufacturing, and there is no savings clause for any use that's not specified.

So your ordinance truly is substantially invalid for data centers.

And what actually would happen is if somebody wanted to build one, they would have to come to you with a landowner curative amendment and go through that process.

So that's where you're at.

This is not an easy task if you don't vote for this.

What I'm recommending is you deny this insufficient data center ordinance, and instead.

And instead, pass a resolution tonight to enact a municipal curative amendment, which is actually in accordance with your own zoning ordinance when there is an invalidity, and give yourselves a 180-day pause on all those landowner curative amendments and applications for a really good ordinance to be passed.

This is your chance to do that, and I hope you take it.

Pause one second.

Everyone, uh, just to I want to make clear what the expectations are tonight.

Everyone has a right to speak, everyone has a right to give us our feedback.

I just want to be respectful to anyone who has the floor, whether it's one of my colleagues, whether it's administration, whether it's you, the members of the public who we all want to hear from.

There should not be interruptions, whether you're in favor of what they're saying, whether you're not in favor, we just need to be respectful.

When someone has the floor, let's give them the floor.

Everyone's gonna have an opportunity, and we'll get through this.

So we we're here for it.

I want to, you know, we want to hear it, but I just want it to be professional and respectful.

I will apply these rules evenly to everyone in the room.

So that includes us, that includes the administration.

We're not gonna talk over anyone, we're not gonna cheer um when we like something, or we're gonna jeer when we don't like something.

So um everyone gets a floor.

So thank you, everyone.

Uh go ahead.

So my name is Spencer Snig.

I'm a local businessman.

I uh I work with AI and technology all the time.

Uh I know that it's bad for uh the economy and it's bad for the environment.

Uh as uh the previous speaker just said, you know, uh remediation, if if we do have to clear out all those servers, it's a lot of heavy metals and other toxic stuff, so it's and uh could not be good.

The question is how do you uh word things in your bills so that it's defensible in court?

So one of the biggest things, the easiest way to defend it is uh economic impact studies.

So if they can prove that they'll have a positive impact on Allentown, that's a thing.

But uh in fact, you know, most uh AI technologies actually have a negative impact on on the environment.

Not sorry, on the environment, also on business.

So if you look at um, oh, where was I talking about?

Uh oh another thing I forgot about was um you have to worry about um oh yes, okay.

So it's uh it's it's taking over a storage facility, not a storage facility, you have people you know moving boxes and all that in a uh data center, you don't basically you have a couple security guards uh and your inspection number breaks in and changes any data, and then you also have uh a technician coming in, you know, once in a blue moon to repair things.

How many how many times have you physically taken your computer somewhere to be repaired?

It doesn't really happen that often.

So that means it's not gonna be supplying a lot of jobs.

One moment, please.

We're this is only for bill 20.

So um so as long as you can the comments are towards bill 20.

That's an example of signal, thank you.

But I just and again, if you have more, we're I'm happy to hear it at the next portion at our next meeting.

Right, but it this is only for bill 20.

Right, so and also for bill 20.

Uh economic variety.

So one of one of the problems is that you're gonna have also is people uh saying, okay, I want to build a mini data center, so they fall you know below your requirements.

So if you uh say we have to have economic variety, then you could reject a bid uh for a smaller server.

Okay.

That's it.

All right, thank you.

And if you have more, you're welcome to um stay for the next portion of Cursey the floor.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Hello there, can you okay, good, you can hear me.

My name is Lewis Shoop, 1101 Hamilton, Allentown PA.

Uh I am a Facebook group administrator, Allentown PA community, largest group of its kind in Allentown.

35 35,000 members, genuinely vetted and organized for civil discourse.

I'm also a retired webmaster slash programmer.

Um, and I've been working with AI a lot the past couple of years.

And it scares the living shit out of me.

Okay.

I'm serious.

As far as Bill 20 goes, forget about Bill 20.

Ban them outright for at least 180 days until more information comes in because the chatter I'm seeing right now.

These data centers that are being proposed using Nvidia CUDA technology, which I've been studying for a long time.

They're going to be using these data centers for mass surveillance.

And when that happens, it's going to be a lot harder to shake them off.

Ban them outright.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Nick Nikoloff.

I live on the South Side.

I'm a current member of Allentown School District's board of directors and work professionally in policy and organizational development.

Today I'm here before you as an individual to express concerns and the lack of definition of AI data centers in specific, touch on their impact and briefly comment on your bill.

I would like to highlight in particular an aspect of AI data centers with repercussions that may be more intense for Allentown and the Lehigh Valley, which is their contribution to particulate matter air pollution.

A study led by Harvard researcher, Dr.

Michael Cork, reviewed data centers in Loudoun County, Virginia, which is an area similar in size and population to our own, totaling about 800,000 square feet, and found that the PM pollution alone would contribute up to 100 million dollars of additional health damages and 6.5 premature deaths on the region per year.

The cost of that is borne by the citizens of the area and not the owners of the centers themselves.

If put in use as an AI data center, the currently proposed 224,000 square foot facility at the Mayas Av would contribute roughly 1.5 tons of PM per year under their optimal operating circumstances, but they will likely seek an EPA permit for 70 tons of emissions per year.

For context, that is the equivalent of about 6300 trucks worth of pollution operating 100,000 miles each within the area of the Lehigh Valley.

The Lehigh Valley is a basin with a historically poor air quality record.

It's the 50th most polluted air quality metro area in the country, and it's the third highest in asthma rates.

If we were to face similar air quality impacts as Loudoun in our region, with its already poor air quality record, it could threaten to make our situation as residents untenable and displace or possibly contribute to the premature deaths of many residents.

That said, I believe your amendment is a necessity, even if there's room for improvement.

And I encourage each of you to pass it.

It's relatively well written, and it takes, I think, important first steps to address data centers.

It would be better to pass this now and make amendments in the future than to let things stand as is and have more data centers sneak through on technicalities.

Though I would encourage you to add language to differentiate between standard commercial data centers and AI data centers, the latter of which I would highly encourage be classed as heavy industrial so that we have more oversight and it will preclude them from being present in residential and commercial areas, such as a nonprofit dedicated to helping children with medical complexities, which will certainly be exasperated by having a mass pollutant across the street from them.

Thank you.

Hello there.

My name is Anders Nissen.

I live at 534 South 23rd Street here in Allentown.

I'm a veteran of the Afghanistan war, and I'm a proud member of the Lehigh Valley DSA.

I'm choosing to do my civic duty by speaking here today as a proud member of our community to encourage the city council to consider rejecting Bill 20 until we can add a curative amendment.

First, I'd like to bring your attention to section two Part C regarding landscape buffering and Section K regarding heat mitigation.

Both using words like encourage, which is going to leave room for developers to argue that they do not have to adhere strictly to said guidelines.

On top of that, both times you mentioned the Allentown Shade Tree Commission, it is recommendations that you offer, not regulations.

This will once again leave wiggle room for developers to squirm out of their duty of care for our community.

Talking about duty of care for our community, I'd like to share the story of one man, Kotaku Wamura.

Kotaka Womura was the mayor of Fudi Japan from 1945 to 1987.

When most towns in Japan simply built a seawall to protect their towns, Mr.

Womura added a floodgate to his city as well.

This floodgate was seen as a costly vanity project by one man that was subsequently mocked for decades upon its completion in 1982.

That mocking ended in 2011 when Japan was hit by a tsunami.

While many towns suffered thousands of casualties and near total destruction, Mr.

Womora's actions allowed his town to survive relatively un unscathed with a single casualty.

Mr.

Womara's determination and foresight to protect his city despite the opposition and cost is exactly what allows his hometown to continue to thrive today.

I ask the city council to not just encourage the protection of our ecosystem and our homes.

I ask you to embody Mr.

O'Mora's spirit and ensure our city can continue to thrive for generations to come.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you for your service.

And anyone else?

I'll say something.

Um for go ahead.

Ladies first.

Thank you.

Um this is a little bit.

We're taking comments on Bill 20.

Yes.

Uh I am not, I'm not.

My name is Ilali Briales.

I live on Cumberland Street in Alensown, Pennsylvania, on the South Side, specifically where this will be uh impacted.

I don't know a bunch of legal jargon.

I don't know.

I'm not, this is my first time ever showing up.

But I'm concerned.

I am concerned about what they said about quote protect the city with encouraging this AI data center.

We already have water sort shortages.

We already have electrical issues, we already have air quality issues, not because of anything, just normal environmental issues.

This data center will not only exacerbate them but make them ten times worse in a place that already has sensitive citizens like elderly people, children, schools, shopping centers, food shopping centers where we get our sustenance.

I don't think that's very much protecting the city when we already have these things on advisory every single year.

We get brownouts, we get we have to shut off our electricity at certain points.

Certain areas get their lights shut off because it's too hot during the summer.

And specifically in the South Side, which is historically neglected, and that's not by any reason, it is just a fact.

So now you're going to add this AI data center, which will not only exacerbate everything, but again, make the South side the pit of this the Lehigh Valley where no one wants to show up anyway.

And that's not because of us.

We want people to come to our Southside.

We love our citizens.

But you're adding these things, ruining our roads, ruining our air, ruining our water.

You're sentencing us to death for something that's temporary and is already dying.

That's why I don't like the fact that in this bill, she's there, and I understand you guys are not the people behind the bill, you guys are part of the company.

But I think you we should get in 180-day period to pause and get these amendments and get the verbiage correct because this is happening very quickly, and this is quicker than anything we've ever seen done.

Why?

We need to take our time and look through everything, including the health issues, because we already have them.

We don't need more.

And um, this is definitely gonna impact me.

But the reason why I wanted to come up here, I did not plan to speak, but I was um prompted by that young lady there because she said something, because I go around and talk to neighborhoods right now uh about this issue, but I'm in upper McConji, okay?

We know what's going on over there as well.

And one thing I don't think you guys are realizing, I like you do a little bit more research, and I'm down for this 180-day pause because I think we're all getting played.

In Upper McConji, they talked about the idea of hey, this is gonna bring business to us, these warehouses.

We need warehouses.

Guess what?

They're sitting empty now.

They got played.

Now this guy builds one, he can't fill it up.

He got played.

So now here's the next con to come through.

Data centers.

And what she spoke about about in five years or so or less, Elon Musk is gonna be our first trillionaire on record because he's committed to one million data centers.

I promise you, those robots that are building his data, all his equipment that these guys, you know, are using now, it's gonna get old, it's gonna wear out.

They're not gonna rebuild, they're not gonna update the equipment.

What they're gonna do is they're gonna take Elon up on his challenge and his offer because he's gonna be able to make it 10 times cheaper because he's not using real labor anymore.

He's using AI robots.

And so we're gonna be looking back in five years, 203 or so, and now we got to clean this mess up.

And this is in my neighborhood, or we're gonna have to clean it right across the street from that data center is daycares, there's housing there.

I mean, I don't even know why we're really talking about this, that area.

We I mean, there's some areas I guess these things could be in, but not on a Mayus Avenue.

That's crazy.

So I think we need a hundred and eighty-day bars.

I think we gotta get the words right.

Maybe if they want to commit to 10 years, you know, let's see if can we put I don't I don't know all the legal stuff, but maybe if they commit and maybe they commit to clean it up after they leave, you know, okay, you know, maybe we can deal with that, maybe commit with like not raising our electricity bills.

Why are we subsidizing billionaires?

It's crazy if you think about it.

You know what I mean?

Uh June 1st, PP and L just raised their prices.

Anybody look at that kilowatt?

I suggest you go on their exchange and get another service because if you got PNL, you're crazy.

And so in December, it's gonna go up again.

And it's gonna this thing keeps on going up.

We're subsidizing Jeff Bezos, a little off topic, but it just goes to the concept of this whole thing.

Jeff Bezos rocket just blew up.

How much did he take from taxpayers?

He's worth 338 billion dollars and got a contract from the government for four billion dollars.

So all I'm saying is let's not subsidize their pet projects.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Tinku Conwalker.

Um I live in the city of Allentown and am co-chair of the Environmental Advisory Council.

Um I just wanted to clarify one thing that seems to be a lot of people um seem to be a little bit confused about.

There is a section of the uh a bill that's called electronic waste, and it says an electronic waste plan shall be submitted outlining procedures for safe removal and recycling or disposal of server infrastructure, hazardous materials, batteries, electronic waste, and related products, which will apply in cases when the data center is updated or decommissioned.

And the way in which this would then, as I uh at my reading of this bill is that the Allenton Environmental Advisory Council is supposed to look over all of these plans and determine whether additional mitigation is needed, etc.

And once approved, these plants become part of the permit that's issued, and they are required to follow the plans that have been approved.

So all the concern around removal is, I believe, a little bit misplaced because it is actually in the ordinance and is required to be part of the plans that are submitted and approved.

Thank you.

If they go big represents just to be clear, the decommissioning requirement that's accelerating in point of order, it's the point it's it's for the whole facility.

Okay, and there's a financial security company.

Okay.

But I just wanted to correct that because she seemed to be correcting the wrong thing.

All right.

Thank you.

Um go ahead.

Um Adam Bond.

I uh live at 116 South 17th Street in Allen Town.

Um I'm coming here as a concerned citizen and as a member of the West Park Civic Association.

Um The Lehigh Valley, the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution, the elbow of the Northeast, exists at a remarkable confluence of geography, commerce, and natural resources.

We sit at the conjunction of many major uh transportation arteries connecting us to the larger metropolitan areas of the northeastern megalopolis, a region containing roughly 15% of the nation's population and 20% of its economic output.

It is one of the most economically productive regions on earth.

At the same time, the Lehigh Valley occupies the northwestern edge of one of Pennsylvania's most fertile agricultural regions.

Our landscape is threaded with streams and rivers, supplied with rich, loamy, alluvial soils, and sustained by aquifers that have supported both farmers and communities for generations.

Over the last two decades, however, we have steadily converted those resources into development.

Suburban sprawl, retail projects, industrial parks, and warehousing have consumed more and more open land.

In the case of warehouses alone, we have had added tens of millions of square feet of industrial space and thousands of acres of impermeable surfaces.

By 2023, many people believed the warehouse boom had finally reached its limits, and we saw development slow.

Then the data center developers arrived.

What concerns me is not any single project, it is the cumulative effect of all of them.

For years, environmental reviews have examined projects one at a time and concluded that no individual proposal is expected to cause significant harm to groundwater or aquifers.

Yet planning bodies have consistently failed to ask a more important question.

What is the combined effect of every warehouse, every parking lot, every distribution center, every retail plaza, every subdivision, and every industrial park built across the region over a period that coincides with growing climate instability?

Because while those studies were assuring us that each project posed little risk, the Lehigh Valley has entered a sustained condition of drought vulnerability.

Rainfall that once infiltrated fields and replenished aquifers increasingly runs off pavement and rooftops into uh sewer pipes, into streams, into rivers.

Our waterways swell rapidly during storms and then fall to unusually low levels during dry periods, streams uh become warmer, groundwater recharge becomes less reliable, aquifers remain underreplenished.

If a compreh a comprehensive regional study exists, examining the long-term effects of development on our water supply, I've not seen it.

What I have seen are increasing calls for residents to conserve water, increasing concerns about drought conditions, and steadily rising utility costs.

It is difficult to ask ordinary citizens to do more with less while simultaneously approving project after project that reduces the landscape's ability to retain and replenish water in the first place.

And now we are being asked to contemplate an entirely new category of development whose demands may dwarf even the warehouse boom.

Data centers do not merely occupy land, they consume enormous quantities of electricity and substantial quantities of water.

Um sorry.

Thank you.

And we we will have more courtesy to the floor in a few minutes.

You're welcome to continue.

Thank you.

Yep.

We're on finish.

Hi, I'm Alicia.

Uh I'm a resident of Allentown.

I live over uh like Ninth and Gordon area.

Uh I'm here because uh I'm concerned about the way that Bill 20 is currently written.

Um I think you know, everyone in this room would agree that zoning ordinances for data centers are so important.

They're very critical.

We all want them.

Um, but I just given the amount like that data centers impact the land, the environment, and most importantly, the people in the surrounding communities are people.

Um we just we need to make sure that this ordinance as is written with as many protections, uh strong protections in place as possible.

And uh it isn't right now.

One of the um biggest things that um concerned me while I was reading it is the that the setback requirement is only 200 feet from residences and schools and hospitals.

Um that's that's a really really small distance.

Uh I think everyone in this room walked more than 200 feet from the door to get in, just to get in here.

Um there I don't know if anyone here has ever heard what a data center sounds like.

I've I've watched videos of them and they're they're really loud.

I've heard it compared to living next to a highway.

But the thing about highways is you you have rush hours, so it's bad during that time, but a data center, a data center is 24-7.

It is that level of noise all the time.

It never stops.

I am a neurodivergent person.

I struggle with over stimulation and with uh even getting like panic attacks when noises are just temporarily too much.

So uh honestly thinking about having that much noise 24-7, that would that could be as little as 200 feet from houses is my personal nightmare, and I think the nightmare of a lot of people.

Um so we all we all want an ordinance, but this just isn't strong enough the way it is.

We just need to do better.

Um so I'm asking city council that rather than pass the ordinance uh in its current language to instead enact a 180-day municipal curative amendment to the township zoning ordinance um pursuant to section 609.2 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code so that um sorry, so that we can put a necessary pause on any new data center proposals for six months and give um concerned people like myself in the community um more time to collaborate with you and other uh city officials to just make it stronger.

Uh and I know I am not alone in that.

I know 503 people have at least have emailed about this.

All right, uh, thank you very much.

Good evening, members of the council.

Um, my name is William Gurecki.

I'm a 21-year-old lifelong resident of South Allentown, 3124 Pearl Avenue, currently a full-time high school teacher at Bridgeview Academy.

I'm speaking on behalf of myself and not on behalf of the school.

Um, the reason that I'm here to speak isn't just because of the fact that this in general scares me, but of because well, can't talk, because of the fact it was so fast, like many people were saying.

I don't know if I live under a rock, but I found out about this three hours ago from a 69 news article.

I understand you guys have been having like meetings about this for months, but it becomes an urgent issue when you have the bill on Wednesday, and then you're discussing whether it should be built on Tuesday.

All right.

So not having that delay is not awesome for us.

Also, I have a question just for everyone.

How many people here work during the day?

We show of hands.

All right, so when you don't give us notice, right?

We can't go to your 1215 on a Tuesday.

All right.

That's why.

That's why.

And I apologize for my aggressive tone there.

But that's why I feel like so many people immediately were just like, oh shoot.

They're talking about data centers.

We're here.

You know?

It kind of feels like the bill is let's see how we regulate people who want to put a brick on our head, and then Tuesday we're talking about if we should put a brick on their head.

You know.

So that's why it becomes an urgent issue.

They're directly related.

Much like everyone else, I think we should wait 180 days, take some time to think and really discuss, especially so we don't become like our neighbors in Makange.

That's all I got.

All right, thank you for your time.

Hello.

Good evening.

My name is Aaron McCarthy.

I am here tonight as both a parent and an advocate for the special needs community.

I want to speak specifically about the impacts a project of this scale could have on individuals with disabilities, sensory sensory sensitivities, neurological conditions, chronic illnesses, and medically vulnerable populations who already live in this community.

My daughter attends Kim Lott for children.

Many children and adults with autism spectrum disorders, ADHD, epilepsy, auditory processing disorders, anxiety disorders, PTSD, sensory processing challenges, and hearing impairments can be significantly affected by constant industrial noise.

Low frequency humming, vibration, generator testing, bright industrial lighting, traffic increases, and environmental stressors.

For many families, these are not minor inconveniences.

They are directly affecting daily functioning, emotional regulation, sleep, communication, concentration, learning, and overall quality of life.

Nearby schools, neighborhoods, and community spaces could be impacted by ongoing cooling system noise, transformer hums, backup generator testing, and increased industrial activity.

Children with sensory sensitivities often cannot simply tune out these sounds.

Apologize.

The way others can.

What may seem manageable to some can become overwhelming and debilitating for others.

As a mother of a child with disabilities, I know firsthand how important stability, calm environments, clean air, and reduced sensory overload can be for health learning and emotional well-being.

I am also concerned about long-term air quality impacts, diesel emissions, and environmental risk for medically fragile individuals, including those with asthma, seizure disorders, respiratory illness, cardiovascular conditions, and compromised immune systems.

The special needs community deserves to be considered in these discussions before decisions are finalized.

Our children, vulnerable residents, and medically sensitive populations should not become an afterthought in large-scale industrial development planning.

I respectfully ask you to require independent studies specifically evaluating noise impacts, sensory impacts, air quality concerns, and public health risks for children, schools, senior citizens, and disabled residents before moving this project forward.

Progress should never come at the expense of the most vulnerable members of our community.

Thank you for your time.

But that has to wait till courtesy to floor at our next meeting.

Just want to remind everyone what we're doing right now, but you will have that opportunity to share those stories and feedback right after this meeting.

But you do see how concerned everyone is that we're we're we feel we're being rolled over, and many communities all over the country feel they're being rolled over by AI and data center projects.

So, yes, I do have questions for you if you can answer them about this ordinance 20.

We're only taking um we're only taking testimonies right at this moment.

Um answer a question about it?

Um not at this time, I'm sorry, but you're welcome to.

Okay, then I'll do what everyone else has done this evening and talk about AI and data centers.

You let everyone else talk, so often I.

You can mention your concerns or questions about Bill 20.

So I'm confused about the ordinance 20 and what its purpose is.

And my confusion stems from I attended the Upper McConji um, you know, the meeting, I couldn't get in, but I also attended a League of Women Voters program a couple weeks ago on data centers.

And Blake Marles, who many of you must know, he's a lawyer in and he's the lawyer for the data center that wanted to go in upper McConji.

And he told us in this program that um unless communities pass legislation that that limits and defines what a data center is and the land use and zoning uh possibilities that any company that comes in and gives a full proposal to you, like the one at Emmaus Avenue that's proposed, would get in under the much looser regulations.

And so if that's the case, if that's your intent to skip over that so that you can this data center that's proposed will be under stricter rules, then I would support it.

But I don't understand if it is the case, because you're talking about 200 feet of of you know clearance.

You're talking about it's it doesn't sound like it's really restrictive, and so I would support waiting for six months and really studying this.

And also the state has currently four bills.

I learned this at the League of Women Voters program at the senior center, um, because there was a woman from a an environmental group in Philly, and there was uh an engineer that's the consultant for the data center that got uh canceled in uh upper McConji.

And um they said that um if you if I'm losing my train of thought.

But anyway, if it's true that it's better to wait, then why not wait?

And the there's four legisl um four pieces of legislation, one's already passed in Harrisburg that limit and define data centers and what and restrict them.

So why not wait?

And that's my opinion.

I'm sorry, yeah, sure.

So just a quick point of order.

I fully resonate with everyone's emotion and impact.

And I just hopefully want to maybe add a little bit more level of clarification right now, this very moment.

If you have comments on wording of the bill on specific, there are some really great points that are made on the specifics of like why it should be stronger in this way or that way.

I think these are very important things pertaining to the bill.

Again, I think I've heard a couple of mentions of data centers, specifically the one on Emmaus Avenue, even just referencing them.

That again can be brought up in like 20 to 30 minutes from now.

We're not saying you can't.

It's just right now, this very moment we want people who have specific thoughts and comments on this specific bill and the way that it's written and the way that it's currently proposed and ways to make it stronger or change it.

So I just want to again value everyone's opinion, but just make sure if you're coming up at this point in time, it's specifically on that kind of level of detail.

Thank you.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Uh hello, my name is Alex Vidal Verez.

And I'm here as a housing fellow for Alihigh Valley Stands Up.

However, I'm speaking for myself today.

So um the main problem that I have with Bill 20 is that in a way it feels like we are just being sold to a big company without any disregard for our livelihoods, if that makes sense, meaning that um I don't see any reason as to why we should rush this, as it seems like a very important big development.

However, um just echoing everybody's concerns on not only the health of the public, but also how it affects our economy, because most likely than not, our utility bills was just go through the roof.

And a lot of people here, not only in Allentown, but also across the country are struggling to pay their bills, they are struggling to pay their housing, they are struggling to pay anything at all.

So with this um bill, uh the main thing that I have a problem with is that you are not taking into consideration community concerns before even just like attempting um to put this bill into consideration and just to like put you into perspective.

The construction of a data center here in M MAS Avenue is nothing short of a coincidence.

Like it's not a coincidence.

Because if you think about it, why is it that a data center is being billed where a lot of working class families, a lot of black and brown people, a lot of people with many disabilities live?

Why is it here and why isn't somewhere else?

Please let me finish.

Oh right.

And so I was just like for the city council to take into into consideration everybody's concerned today, and to please let us have a 180 creative municipal period to just take into account the things we are trying to express to you in regards to how to move forward.

And I just feel like there's no need for this bill to be asterisk as it has been.

There's no need for it to be as um demanding as it has on the city of Allentown.

We are all incredibly affected by it.

And that's all I have for now.

Thank you.

Which one's first?

I'm sorry.

Sorry.

Hi, um, my name's Katie Onimus, Catherine, as the voter registration says.

Um I live uh I on South Street, own a home there, and um I know a tremendous amount of effort went into creating this bill, and I know that you know, six months was put in.

I know a lot of the different people were consulted in this.

I don't want to diminish the work that was put into it.

Um I think the concern is also that even though there were public hearings on this, it's a little hard for us as the public to know when those are and when things come up.

And so we're just hearing about now, so that's why we're we're hearing about it now, and then you're y'all are gonna vote on it, and so we don't feel like we're getting the time to have the input.

And so I think that's why we're asking for the pause, um, so we can have more input, like having more than 200 feet for the setback, stronger language, you know, not as much encourage, more you know, requirements.

Um, and I think what would be helpful too is because we're not allowed to outlaw data centers.

Um, we have the council solicitor here.

It'd be really helpful if we could have another public hearing where you took up took the bill and said we had to write it this way because we can if we wrote it stronger, it would violate this law.

If we had a if we did 2,000 feet setback, not a 200 feet setback, it would completely rule out all land use in our area, which would be too restrictive, and so then we could get sued.

And so if you can break it apart that way and help us understand better um the different components of the bill, um, I think that would that would just help us know like more of what went into it.

Um I just think we as the public need more time with the bill.

And I understand that you're trying to protect us.

Like, I think we all want the same things.

We want protections against the data centers.

Um I just think as the public we're feeling a little blindsided by the bill, and we just need more information about it.

Um there's a lot echoed about the environmental and the health concerns, so I'm not gonna continue to echo those.

Um, I'm really concerned also about all the rising costs, the energy costs, the water costs, and there is you know, economic impact studies that were required um in the bill.

But I would I would like more.

Um, I would like there to be more information about not just the impact, but how are we going to prevent rising costs?

Because maybe there's some tax revenue, maybe not, but that's still not gonna help me pay my bills.

That's not gonna help everyone in the room pay their bills.

And so um, those are my concerns.

That's how I think we could help get everyone on board and help us all be more collaborative.

So thank you.

Okay.

Welcome and uh any comments on bill 20?

Good evening, yes.

My name is Colleen Leiden, um, and I am a concerned citizen.

I am an environmental educator, um, and I also happen to be a member of the Bethlehem Township Environmental Advisory Council.

Um, so I did review Bill 20, um, and I don't mean to discredit any of the effort that Kyle and Tinku or anyone else put into this.

Um, and I do commend Allentown for trying to be proactive on this.

But I did compare it to Bethlehem Townships.

And I think frankly, Bill 20 is not strong enough.

A lot of the language in there echoing off of other people how it says that the applicant is encouraged.

I think there just leaves too much wiggle room for these developers to kind of get away with whatever they want.

So I would recommend that you put the 180-day pause on this and take another look at this bill.

But it uh provides stricter language in it and more specifics on what would be required.

Um, and also um some information about why it is legally defensible to do so.

So really my only recommendation is to put a pause and make this a lot stronger.

That's what we're trying to do in Bethlehem Township, and I believe that the residents of Allentown deserve the same.

Uh hi, my name is Corinne Lalick.

I am a South Aunton resident.

I'm not gonna speak on the data center uh just yet on a Mayus Av, but I wanted to talk about basically it 200 feet is what I've ripped is the amount of space of grass I've ripped up in my yard to plant native plants that are drought tolerant that are good for the environment.

200 feet is absolutely nothing.

I'm asking for a 180-day curative amendment to give us more time to change this language.

200 feet is nothing.

I I did that in a year in my house, ripping up grass.

And the thing is that the plants that I'm planting, you guys suggest planting native plants to mitigate noise from data centers in your bill.

Um native plants are struggling underwater.

There is a drought watch currently for the state of Pennsylvania.

And what like you have no repercussions written into this bill as well for what happens when these data centers don't follow the rules that you're writing out for them.

What are the consequences?

Like what can we do to make sure that they pay for for the damage they're doing to us?

There's nothing written like that in in this amendment, like at all.

Um so please, I'm begging you.

Like, you it's also talking about like data centers not to reuse water for their cooling system.

So instead of recycling and reusing water to run the cooling system to make sure they use as little water as possible, they'd be allowed to bring in more and more water.

Again, we are on a drought watch currently for this year.

I'm I'm mad, I'm upset, I'm scared, like most, if not everybody in this room.

And the bill that you're trying to pass now does not do a good job protecting us, your constituents.

So please, a hundred and eighty-day period of amendment to give us more time to protect us from this.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Kyle.

I live in Emmaus, and I uh want to drive about five to seven minutes to get to this.

I drive past that site all the time.

Uh first I want to recognize that uh you are all in a very difficult position because the type of money and power we're talking about that are accomplishing these goals are counting on you not being able to move quickly and not knowing what to do because they have way more resources available to them.

So I appreciate your effort.

Um I also say do whatever you can to find the people that are successful in this because there's a lot of people all over the country facing the same battle you are.

Many of you believe in this now.

So trying to find those that already exist will serve you.

You're really fighting an uphill battle there.

I think I think that's all I have to say.

Oh, well, I guess the all the idea on the on the bill was one of the greatest delineating factors for a data center, specifically an AI data center, uh, versus almost all types of centers and manufacturing warehousing is going to be is power consumption.

We're not even gonna go into like how far off that is, but if you want to maybe regulate them, maybe you can do something based around the consumption or the noise or the water consumption, because all of those will be much higher, and you can set a boundary that would probably work for all of your other industrial sites that could keep AI denisaders out.

You know, maybe there's a setback.

It's like, oh, you consume 10 times the power of the steel manufacturing plant.

You need a bigger setback.

I something along those lines is what I got for you.

But I wish you guys luck.

Um, and I will also say this may be one of the most important things if you do accomplish this that you ever do, because it will create a black pit around that site.

And all of those houses and properties will drop in value, and all the people there will be trapped there.

And they will they will have less water and less clean air, and they won't be able to sell their house and move anywhere else.

It will impoverish them.

So it may be the greatest thing you ever do to fight this.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Okay.

Well, welcome.

And um any comments on bill 20 on the bill itself.

Yes.

Thank you.

Um Julia Vitaly, if she her pronouns from Allentown.

Um I wanted to start by thanking you all for involving the uh environmental council and doing, you know, starting this bill and and putting some effort forward to really make sure there is something.

Um I, with many people here, feel like it's not enough, but I want to express how much gratitude obviously took a lot of time, uh, a lot of research to get as far as you did, and you know, we want to recognize that.

Um, but we'd like to have it be a little stronger, have a little bit more teeth.

Um, because you know, I'm a data scientist, I can tell you you can make numbers say anything.

And if you don't have really specific asks, people will find a way to take advantage of the writing and and find wiggle room and work arounds, and I don't want to see that kind of you know, I don't want to see this not be able to hold up to the expectations of you know the citizens of Allatown.

Um, some of the things that I would I I think first, I really think that any studies, and there's gonna be a lot of studies involved with any data center that's coming, should be independent, third party, um, and there should always be a review of conflict of interests.

Okay, we we shouldn't be having financial or any sort of influence that's gonna be um influencing uh or or making incentivizing people to be dishonest in the studies that they're doing.

Uh and and if you don't have like a conflict of interest disclosure, if you don't have the pieces in place in a bill to make sure that folks are not just somebody's buddy down the street, you know, um, you know, being thrown some extra cash to you know, the it shouldn't just be, and I think, for example, the the one bill, uh, one um center coming.

I do believe the research was done by someone contacted by the person who's wants to bring the center.

I think that you should if you have a situation like that, there should be that raw data should be available for independent um experts of your community to review that data and to know that that study was done in a sound way.

Um I also think there's just a lot of language that was vague.

Um, you know, to do a sound study, you know, like there are studies we know, and and I research is constantly getting better.

That's why I think the 180 days would be fantastic.

Let's see some other um centers and what are best practices come up so we know exactly what we need.

But as far as I can tell, um it does seem like there's C-weighted testing.

Uh, and this is really important to specify because you can do testing without actually getting to those those really low frequencies that are not perceptible necessarily, but they are very dangerous.

Um, they can they can uh disrupt sleep.

Um, you know, certainly folks who who have um sensory disorders can be very sensitive as well, but but the average people can as well, and then I think we don't know that much about this yet.

Is that the end?

Oh there's another.

Oh no, there's another portion after this.

Um, but we're just taking comments right now.

Um anyone has any comments for bill 20, the actual ordinance.

Um I believe we have someone coming up.

And then after this meeting, we'll be taking comments on anything else regarding data center.

Go ahead, ma'am.

My name is My name is Gillian.

Um, I am the local organizer for the community group Lehigh Valley stands up.

Um, and I would like to spend my time today going through what this ordinance does not have.

Um, I should have five minutes because I am speaking for an organization.

Thank you.

Was there anyone else that from Lehigh Ballet stands up that spoke?

Because typically what happens if there's one organization I'm asking, I don't know.

There were several.

Yeah, three minutes.

Okay.

Um, so I will be going through what this ordinance does not have and why we think that we need a curative amendment so that we can fill these gaps.

The current proposed ordinance does not include any rules around when the public should be made aware of applications.

This current uh proposed ordinance only requires a 200 foot setback from homes.

This current proposed ordinance does not define noise limits.

This current proposed ordinance does not require that data centers do noise testing at any point after the construction is finished.

This current proposed ordinance does not include any decommissioning requirements.

There is a requirement that local fire departments are included in conversations, but there's nothing in the proposed ordinance that also requires the fire department and their equipment to be tested to make sure they have what they need for data center specific emergencies.

There is nothing in the proposed ordinance about external lighting.

The current proposed ordinance doesn't include nothing about the impact of traffic and transportation.

The current proposed ordinance is not required that the data centers send reports every year making sure they are following the rules.

The current proposed ordinance has nothing on how to safely remove a data center once it is shut down.

The curse current proposed ordinance does not require data centers to take into consideration how they will economically impact our community.

The current proposed ordinance does not provide specific specifics on the size, interval, or types of plants for a landscape buffer.

The current proposed ordinance does not require that data center applicants submit an environmental impact assessment.

The current proposed ordinance would allow data centers not to reuse the water used for cooling systems.

So instead of recycling and reusing the water to make sure they use as little water as possible, they'd be allowed to bring in more and more water and put it back into the environment, even if it is warmer and contaminated.

The current proposed ordinance does not have any strict rules or requirements for how much of the energy used should be renewable, only that effort should be made.

The current proposed ordinance doesn't say that documentation about the use of electricity should be available to the public.

The current proposed ordinance does not say anything or include any regulations around backup generators and emissions, like rules around meeting emission standards, when generators should be used and tested, and how fuel is stored and prevented from spilling.

The current proposed proposed ordinance does not require that hazardous materials being used, stored, or generated or identified, or that they comply with federal, state, and local regulations.

We think that because of these gaps, this ordinance should not be passed, that we need to spend 180 days revisiting this and making sure that it actually will be protecting our communities from data centers.

And we have copies of this handout for everyone on council so that you may look it over when you are making your decisions, and if you would like me to bring those up, I can.

Thank you.

Welcome.

Any comments on bill 20?

Yes.

Good evening, City Council.

Uh, my name is Chris Brown.

I'm a resident of the city.

I live at 345 North Ninth Street.

Also the chairman of the City Planning Commission and uh practitioner that deals with ordinances every day.

I'm a land planner and a landscape architect, and I can tell you that no ordinances are ever perfect.

Um, but I think the predicament that we're in is because we're in an absence of a data center ordinance.

And I think it's more important that we pass this ordinance tonight and continue to work on it than to go without.

I think if if we had something with our zoning rewrite that we did that covered data centers, we'd be in a lot better position with the per current proposal that's on a Mayus Avenue.

So I think we should channel all this concern into making sure that we at least put some boots, um, some you know, some some straps and suspenders on ourselves and have some protection uh so that we don't end up with another project that comes in that is not regulated, because right now that that's why we're in the position that we're in on a Mayas Avenue.

So I don't know if this pause and this curative amendment um acts as a stop gap or not.

But I can tell you if you kill the ordinance proposal tonight, I do believe that that does open the door for a lawful submission to come in under the current zoning ordinance, which has no regulation for the data center.

I agree with every I agree with everybody's concerns.

I agree with everybody's concerns, and I share them as well.

And and as a planning commissioner, you know, we're we're facing the a challenge with this project as it's coming before us.

But I think in the absence of any sort of ordinance or protections, uh, we stand to potentially see another situation just like this.

So I think you guys got a lot of you know decisions to make, and I hope you're you're being advised properly by um by your council because I think that the most important thing in my mind is pass something so we have some protections, and then let's keep working on it.

But um to go forward without I'm um I'm worried about the future submissions that might come in.

So municipal curative advantage is of course thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Welcome.

Hi.

Hi, I'm Kristen Hudak.

I live in the uh oft forgotten section of South Allentown.

Um I just want to ask you actually a few rhetorical questions because I know we're not allowed to get responses, so I just wanted to give you a few things to think about.

Hold on, ma'am.

Once I can start everyone, she has the floor right now.

Hold on.

Thank you.

Um go ahead, ma'am.

Sure.

Um you are to be voting on uh Bill 20 this evening, so I actually have uh some things for you to think about.

The first thing is what is the benefit for having a data center in Allentown?

Okay, it's a it's a rhetorical question.

The second thing is how would you like to have a data center 200 feet from your house?

The next thing I wanted for you to consider is uh the verbiage of this bill.

Because if there can be court cases arguing over the definition of the word is, then you know that this is going to be brought back, uh scrutinized, and someone will use this verbiage to their advantage one way or another.

So um I just think that you should really look long and hard at the verbiage of this bill, and again, ask yourself is this going to be will this be good for you?

What will we get out of this?

I just want you to ask yourself that this evening.

Thank you.

Um welcome.

Uh any comments on Bill 20?

Yes.

Thank you.

Any full name for the record, please.

My name is Michelle Lindsay.

I moved to Allentown about six years ago, and and I've lived all over the country.

So I've seen things like this go right, and I've seen things like this go wrong.

And for really strong examples of things like this not having enough teeth and going very badly wrong.

I encourage you to look at the state that I moved here from, which is West Virginia.

It used to be a thriving state.

There used to be a lot of job growth.

There used to be a lot of industry.

But extremely rich men were allowed to come in, do whatever they wanted to the land, whatever they wanted to the communities, because strong enough regulations were not put in place.

Charleston, which had been a thriving industrial city, the state capital, is now called Death Valley because there's so much pollution there.

The town that I moved here from, Morgantown, used to have beautiful rivers full of smallmouth bass.

And those rivers now run blood red with industrial waste.

Can you can you tie this to Bill?

Can you tie this to bill?

Needs to have more teeth.

Should is not good enough.

Must it needs to have concrete legal wording that holds people accountable, and it needs to have a trust established so that companies can't go bankrupt and pull out without paying for remediation.

Without having an a remediation trust that the companies have to pay into from day one that they have no legal way out of the environmental protections, as weak as they are, are absolutely worthless, and any data center is free to destroy our environment and turn this into another death bounty.

Thank you.

Probably the most important legislation of your terms.

If we have no bill, then we can't fight the lawsuit.

However, this will likely be our only tool to defend ourselves.

We need a 180-day curative municipal amendment to sharpen these swords.

Your proposal would probably be enough in a functioning democracy with uh developers who play by the rules, but they don't.

They never will.

And we need to be aware of the reality that they don't, and they never will.

Uh we need to make bill 20 more measurable, strict, and enforceable.

Developers have already been suing city councils that vote down their data centers.

And um of the reasons is because they don't have robust enough zoning laws.

Uh my main issue with Bill 20 is the lack of consequence.

If you tell a billionaire it's illegal to part in front of a park in front of a fire hydrant, uh they'll park in front of the fire hydrant because it's only a 300 exclusive parking spot.

Um I wouldn't park there because I don't have 300.

So unless the the consequence is asset seizure or public execution, they're just going to do whatever they want.

It doesn't matter.

Um someone mentioned electronic waste.

Again, I do a lot of corporate IT infrastructure.

My job is very boring to my wife.

Um but uh electronic waste recycling is it's kind of a joke in IT.

Um it's uh basically like trying to uh throw nuclear waste in the garbage and hoping the garbage man doesn't see it.

Um if you are a billionaire and your corporate entity of the data center has billions of dollars, then if there's fines for not disposing of waste properly, that's just your cost of business.

You just pay the fine.

Uh another thing I wanted to mention is I I don't think the electricity parts of Bill 20 are realistic.

Uh recently in Lake Tahoe, uh NV Energy, which supplies 75% of their electricity, told all residents, all 50,000 residents, uh, that they will no longer be receiving electricity come May 2027.

Um if you show that your current data center has enough electricity and we sign off on it, we let them build it, uh, and then the uh NVIDIA 1080s go out and the 4090s come out and require three times as much of electricity, then they'll just pay PPO whatever they have to pay to get the electricity from us.

So um this needs to be stricter because it's probably all we'll have.

Thanks.

Welcome and uh Bill 20.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Um hi, my name is Travis Beller.

Um long time Allentown resident.

Uh I think like everyone here, I'm concerned.

Um concerned about data centers and the proliferation throughout the United States, but more specifically in our town and and what the effects may be.

And I think um actually I'm I'm torn.

I don't envy you know council tonight.

Uh uh there have been excellent points made.

Um to me uh I've gone back and forth as I've heard different arguments uh tonight as to should we pass Bill 20 or should we have a curative amendment?

I think like Chris Brown had said, uh we need protections.

And um maybe some of this comes down to education for the public and things that we don't understand, which was another point I think uh was was spoken about earlier.

And I think that would help if there could be some education on what is established in the bill and what it actually means and what the protections are.

Um so when we say uh uh a plan is necessary, um uh what does that entail and is it binding?

Um and what does the the council and the the planning commission what what is and the zoning board, what are this their ability to actually restrict or demand certain things are are done?

That's unclear to me.

Maybe it's just my lack of understanding.

Um there are certain things in here.

Uh again, I I think like most people have said, the the language um and the protections need to be uh stronger and measurable was was one thing that was specifically stated.

Uh I was my intuition was where are the metrics?

So we say there are various uh reports and studies that need to be uh done, but what are the measures that need to be met in in order to pass and and be acceptable?

Um I I did want to recognize I appreciated the presentation that Dr.

Goldens had had provided, and I think it was really informative, but uh like I said, I think the public probably could generally use more information on what the bill entails and and what it really means and what the protections are.

Um trying to wrap up here.

So back to the the uh regard regarding um the curative amendment versus the bill.

Uh again, I I've I hear people in the back saying the curative amendment is is a protection.

Uh I'm I don't know that I haven't done my research.

I think if it's sufficient protection, it gives us six months.

Um I I guess it actually seems a little better to me to do that than the Bill 20, which puts out uh requirements that now we could start to receive proposals, and they're only going to be held to the current requirements.

The 200 foot setback, there are properties in Allentown, residential properties that have 200 foot property lines.

So that would be like living next to your neighbor, except now it's a 50-foot, 50,000 square foot data center.

It doesn't seem reasonable to me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Nick George.

I'm an audio engineer.

I'm from the uh greater uh Allentown Lehigh Valley uh ish area.

Uh I come here specifically to mention the uh phenomena of infrasound, if you all have heard of it, perhaps.

Um it's a topic that gets brought up seldom in these uh meetings and uh all across the country as far as I can tell.

Actually, one lady here brought it up uh just at the very last tail end here, but I I think it's something that is uh paramount importance uh in terms of the ordinances going against the uh sound or sound ordinances is what I'm getting at.

I don't have the right legal term uh terminology and stuff, so work with me here.

But um to go into this a little bit more, infrasound is sound waves that are produced underneath the spectrum of human hearing, which as far as I'm uh understanding is just under about 20 hertz.

Um so you're looking at anything from zero to 19 essentially, and these, although you cannot hear them, are physically effective to the communities that surround these areas of uh previous data center data centers or any place that can emit such infra sound or infrasonic uh qualities.

Um all these can create uh health uh issues as well uh amongst uh physical and mental well-being uh can be at risk, um, especially mental well-being, as far as I've seen uh in a couple independent independent studies I've seen.

Um specifically anxiety and depression have been one of the main target points of what uh infrasound can do.

Because like I said, although we cannot see these uh waveforms and and uh of sound, they are permeating through our bodies, permitting through our homes, hitting us and affecting us in these ways.

So just hide to Bill 20, please.

Oh, absolutely.

I'm saying if it's if when it comes to uh checking out uh like doing the sound ordinance sound ordinance is in there, right?

I'm not tripping on that.

Okay, cool.

Um yeah, when it comes to that, I think being aware of this is something that is of paramount importance because it's not talked of often.

It should be something that is that goes along with these independent studies of uh whatever you're doing to uh you know mitigate this whole sound portion of it.

But that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

If you have more, stick around, or be cursey the floor after this meeting.

Okay, okay.

So um appreciate all the public comment.

And oh go I'm sorry, go ahead.

Waiting for this, but it's worth the wait.

You know who I am where I live.

For the record, can you mention your name?

And um for the audience, I'll give my name.

Quinn Allen.

And speak about Bill 20, please.

Uh, yeah.

So I've been reading Amendment number 14, section one.

No state shall make or enforce any law which shall oblige the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny any person, but you sh but you know the rest of it.

And it is your job to uphold that to which you sworn an oath to the constitution for, I'm sure you all did.

Um it sounds like Bill 20 will deprive people of these three basic things if it was if you were to pass it, put a pause on it for a hundred for the 180 days, update it so it aligns with amendment number 14 section one.

So then people here don't have to wait.

This is probably one of the very first times I've seen conservatives and live wars get get together about a single issue and agree on it.

And I like that.

I like that we have that.

So do your jobs and put a pause on it, uh, update it, and we and make sure we get enough time as citizens to read it before you wing it up in the next meeting.

Thank you hi, Allentown City Council.

My name's Mary.

Um, last name's Collier.

Um I'm a lifelong Lehigh Valley resident, yeah, born and raised here.

Um I just I like yeah, I think a lot of us are becoming like zoning experts in the past like four days, like right since the article broke.

And it took it took me so long to even find how to get this ordinance.

It was like not readily available online.

I finally was able to get it Monday night at the EAC and did read and comb through it.

And I just like to be clear, it really sounded like at the start, this the staff were lying.

Like data centers are not listed under manufacturing uses in that ordinance.

Like that is a lie.

And that planner who was just up here is being disingenuous.

Like he knows that if we pass this municipal curative amendment tonight, it would protect, absolutely.

As a planning commissioner, he knows this.

He should know this.

I don't know why he's he's lying.

It would protect against new applications for 180 days while this ordinance is approved.

The curative amendment is not complicated.

It is right in your zoning ordinance under section 660 113b, in addition to the municipal planning code.

It is in there.

Municipalities all over Pennsylvania are doing this.

They're doing it right now to update their zoning ordinances and hit pause and get 180 days on any new data center ordinances.

We can do this tonight.

I am urging you, I am begging you to please do this tonight for all the testimony that folks have already shared.

And with the rest of my time, I want to read a statement on behalf of someone who's not here.

My name is Valerie Weisler.

I am disabled and thus unable to attend today.

I'm a Mulenburg alumni, Allentown resident, and hold a PhD in children's rights.

I am one of the 503 Allentown community members who emailed each of you over the past three days to demand a 180-day pause to be able to make this ordinance stronger and actually protect us.

Rather than voting through the ordinance in its current language, instead enact a 180-day curative amendment to put a necessary pause on any new data center to proposals for six months because that is what it would do, and give concerned community members like me time to create a stronger ordinance in collaboration with the city council and city officials.

It is a stopgap.

It is our only choice.

It would have greenlit this project.

It wouldn't protect us.

And so for the EAC to say that putting this in place could be used, even though we can't retroactively apply it to that project, we could use it as standards, is is a lie.

Like it is a literal lie.

So I just want to make that clear for everyone in this room, too.

Okay.

Okay.

Um this is repetitive.

But just build Jet 20 is dangerous.

It is a greenlit proposal.

It is pro-development, and it would be very, very, very bad for all of us.

And I'm really scared about it getting passed.

Please do the right thing, please.

Okay, welcome.

Hello.

Um, my name is Liana Centron.

I'm not here as anybody specialized.

I'm just a lifelong resident of Allentown.

And although this comment doesn't pertain to the bill specifically, the general thought that I wanted to bring up was not only seemingly the lack of you know, certain things that they pointed out that the bill was definitely missing.

But the overall lack of trust.

And it's mainly between the people over here and the people here.

I just made it here on my first time.

This is my first time ever coming to a meeting.

Um, like a lot of people, because as a regular citizen, I just focus on going to work and just being able to provide for the people that I love and for myself.

But in situations like these, it feels really dire.

And like people have mentioned before, there seems to be this lack of communication where a lot of us are missing the things that we should be knowing.

And like I said, I I got straight off of work to come here.

I got off of work at 5 30, drove straight over here from Bethlehem to make sure that I can at least attend and show that there's more support than what people can show up for.

So I'm not necessarily here to say anything new, but my point is pretty much put on the 180-day pause, please.

Show that you're listening to the people that voted for you that trusted you enough to vote on their behalf.

Um that you actually hear our concerns.

Thank you.

Okay.

So this was a public hearing.

There's no action at the end of it.

I do encourage you to stick around for our council meeting where you're gonna get additional comments from my colleagues, and it also gives everyone an opportunity to just courtesy the floor, like I mentioned before, to discuss.

So I am gonna adjourn this meeting, but I want to quickly mention we're gonna take a five-minute break.

She will give you the card, and that way you'll get courtesy of the floor at the beginning of the meeting.

Also, if you parked in the government deck next door to City Hall, also see our clerk.

She has chasers that will pay for your parking.

So we're gonna take five minutes, we're gonna get kickstart this council meeting right then and there and get moving.

Thank you, everyone.