Data centers in Centre County, Pennsylvania: 1 project mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Centre County has no data center proposal, and its townships are writing rules before one arrives. College Township was the first in the Centre Region to act. Its council made data centers a conditional use, where they had been permitted like any industrial development, giving it about 120 days to review a proposal and room to attach conditions such as buffers against light and noise and energy and water standards, StateCollege.com and WJAC reported. "It's also not a solicitation of these types of facilities. We're prepared should one end up on our doorstep," said Assistant Township Manager Mike Bloom. The change was aimed at state Senate Bill 939, which Bloom said could "hamstring local municipalities" by cutting the review period to 30 days and barring special conditions.

Not everyone agreed. At a February 2026 Centre Regional Planning Commission meeting, Patton Township Supervisor Bill Burnett called the plan "a very bad idea." "You have a lot more issues and a lot more problems with data centers coming into an area, and it doesn't support the number of jobs that people think it does," he said. College Township Councilman Eric Bernier replied that Burnett had "completely misunderstood" it: "Without this action, we got nothing." The county planning director, Ray Stolinas, said the county was urging townships to keep data centers in industrial zones and away from homes, because of noise and vibration. By June 2026 Snow Shoe Township had sent the county a zoning amendment, and Ferguson, Rush and Half Moon townships were looking at theirs, he said.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.