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Allentown Meetings

City Council, June 17, 2026

Denies Municipal Curative Amendment for data centers, 2-4

4h 7m37,897 words
170 mentionssetbackzoningenvironmental reviewpublic hearingapprovedland usesubdivisionresidentialtabledvarianceindustrialdeferredAllentown, PA
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What happened

Allentown City Council approved Bill 20, a zoning ordinance amendment creating a special exception use category for data centers in the IG and IM industrial districts with a 200-foot minimum setback, on a 4-2 vote (Gerlach and Santos dissenting), after first rejecting a competing…

Meeting key facts
Jurisdiction
Allentown, PA
Governing body
Final authority
Date
June 17, 2026
Decisions
19 zoning decisions
Outcome
Denied, 2-4

Projects in this meeting (1)

Bill 20, data center zoning

Approved 4-2
14 conditions of approval

Meeting Summary

Allentown City Council approved Bill 20, a zoning ordinance amendment creating a special exception use category for data centers in the IG and IM industrial districts with a 200-foot minimum setback, on a 4-2 vote (Gerlach and Santos dissenting), after first rejecting a competing…

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Key Decisions (19)

Approved

Motion to suspend rules to add municipal curative amendment to agenda

Vote: 6-0
Approved

Contract with Urban Design Ventures LLC (R70)

Vote: 6-0
Approved

Cooperative contracts for Informative Technologies (R71)

Vote: 6-0
Tabled

Motion to table Bill 20 pending curative amendment vote

Vote: 6-0
Denied

Municipal Curative Amendment for data centers

Vote: 2-4

Development Activity (1)

2401 West Emmaus Avenue Data Center

Industrial

Market Signals (5)

Infrastructure

Multiple speakers and council members warned data centers will significantly…

Commercial Demand

Allentown is experiencing active data center development interest, with at…

Sentiment

Strong public opposition to data center development dominated the meeting,…

Who Spoke (20)

ChairCouncilmember · 5Staff · 3ClerkWitnessPublic · 5

On the record: the chair, 5 councilmembers, 3 staff members, the clerk, a witness, and 5 members of the public.

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