City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I now call to order this July 14th meeting of Lancaster City Council. A few reminders before we begin this meeting and its participants are being live streamed and recorded. So if you have not done so already, please take this time to silent your cell phone and devices. There is a general public comment period on our agenda. First, we will hear comments from residents who have registered in advance with the city clerk prior to 2 p.m., and then we will open it up to public comment on items that are not on our agenda. All speakers must begin with their name and block of residence for the meeting record, and comments are limited to three minutes. To keep time, we will use a light. It will turn green when the speaker begins, yellow when you have one minute remaining, and it will flash red when your three minutes has been exhausted. Thank you to everyone in advance for ensuring equal time for all. lastly i would like to announce that anyone here to make comment on the zoning amendment that will come up on our legislative agenda must do so during that time i ask that you keep your comments to the zoning amendment and we ask that you keep decorum and civility and now all those who are willing and able please join me in the rise of the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america

and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Mr. Harris, will you please call the roll of members? Yes, Mr. President. Ms. Gastineau?

Here.

Ms. Holland-Jones?

Here.

Mr. Hirsch? Here. Ms. Bajon?

Here.

Mr. Miller? Here. Mr. Stolzfus? Here. And President Ahmed? Here.

We will now hear the approval of the minutes of the June 23rd, 2026 regular meeting of city council and the June 24th, 2026 special meeting of Lancaster city council.

Motion to approve second.

We have a motion and second council. Is there any comments on the minutes?

Hearing none, Mr. Harris.

Ms. Gastineau.

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones.

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch. Aye. Ms. Mejian.

Aye.

Mr. Miller. Aye. Mr. Salasvis. Aye. And President Med. Aye.

That brings us to proclamations, honors, awards, and resolutions of recognition. Mr. Harris, I do believe we have one this evening.

We do, Mr. President. We have resolution number 67. A resolution of the Council of the City of Lancaster recognizing July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month in the City of Lancaster and recognizing the benefits provided by our parks and recreation programs throughout the year.

Motion to approve. Second.

Councilors, we have a motion and a second recognizing Parks and Recreation Month. Council Member Lewis is coming from the Public Works Committee.

Yes, thank you, Council President. I'm really excited to bring this forward because we have so many excellent public work staff and great green spaces here that provide really valuable services to residents. And we actually have a representative from the Lancaster Rec here to speak tonight on some of the services and value they provide to the city. So without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Jack.

So I told Amos, this is a great turnout for Parks and Recreation Month. So my name is Jack Bingman. I'm the Associate Executive Director at the Lancaster Rec. I just wanted to highlight a few things that we're doing right now. First, we have our summer playgrounds program. We operate out of six of the playgrounds of the city parks. And one of the more important things that we do at the playgrounds is we serve lunch and snack to over 1,000 kids throughout the summer. So the necessity of that program can't be overstated. This year we have a grant with the Lancaster STEM Alliance that brings STEM programming to the playground program too. So not only are we offering the snack and recreation, we're enriching the program with STEM activities too. Another thing that we're doing this Friday, and some people will be present, Russell Reddick, the PA State Secretary of Agriculture, will be honoring the work for Urban Ag Week at the Bay Street Community Garden to honor some of the work we've been doing um, in the community with DPW and partners to provide, um, urban agriculture in the city too. So that's another thing that's going on this week and that'll be Friday and we'll have representation there too. Um, Another thing we just started, we're addressing teen programming. We partnered with SOE. We're having open gyms at the Lancaster Rec. We've had trouble connecting with teens in the community, so we have unstructured play at the Lancaster Rec. We had 18 participants. We partnered with SOE. Amos is no longer with SOE, but it's honoring his work and time with SOE, too. And our community events, which is such a good way to highlight the partnership with the city and DPW, whether it's the beer gardens, open streets, Lancaster. We're at the Criterion bike race with the beer gardens. But through the playgrounds and the special events that we do, none of that work is possible without the partnership that we have with the city of Lancaster and DPW. And it really highlights what we can achieve with the rec commission. working with the city and the partners within the city to provide quality recreation. So I'll end with that too. I wanted to bring up the Unity Cup too. We just had that, that highlights the immigrant and refugee community, a soccer tournament that we're on our fourth year. We just had a successful tournament this year at Community Park. And then also we have Senior Planet that we're partnering with AARP to bring tech classes to seniors. So that's some of the work I'd like to highlight right now we're doing plenty of other things, but it's some of the current work that we're doing in the city. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it. And again, none of this work is possible without the partnership of the city and many other partners to provide quality recreation.

So thank you very much.

Council President, I have two ceremonial versions of the citation to present after we vote, so I'll pass it back to you.

Thank you, Councillor Miller, and thank you to the Lancaster Rec Commission. I have the honor of serving on the board with Councillor Miller, and I've been very impressed at the different ways that the rec engages our community, whether it's e-sports, dance classes, senior center. We would not be the city of Lancaster without the partnership that the rec offers. So I just want to thank the Lancaster Rec Commission and also want to thank the Department of Public Works um you know they tirelessly work and sometimes their work is not highlighted unless it's an emergency like the severe weather we just had where they were on the front lines so thank you director campbell and your team we really appreciate all that you guys do as well and with that we will open it up to any further council comments

if i may council president uh you just also want to echo uh kudos to our parks and rec teams i had the privilege of working closely with some of those folks in my role at zoe heather jack and the folks at the rec do an incredible job and then our own uh staff here at the city uh ryan hunter robert sweeney and if you if i would give a big shout out to fredo pagan if you know fredo he's a tireless public servant who's been doing it for a really long time so great job team

I don't know if I properly thank DPW too, but Fredo, Stephen, Ryan, and Robert Sweeney too. I just want to echo that. Our work, and especially with the storm, our pool was shut down and they came out Sunday, early Monday morning to get us operational again. So I wanted to mention them by name and the work they do. It's irreplaceable. So thank you.

Any further comments from council? Any comments from the public on the Parks and Rec resolution?

It might have been a joke, Tony D'Astra, 700 block of New Holland Avenue, but every single person in this room is here for Parks and Rec because we're all here because we're concerned about the well-being of Conestoga Pines Park and Longs Park. So it is appropriate that we're passing this resolution tonight, and I hope Council actually acts for the best interest of our parks.

Any additional public comment on the parks and rec resolution? Yes, sir. If you would please come to the microphone.

I just want to say.

If you could please begin with your name and block of residence.

Anthony Israel, Tony Israel. And what was the other thing?

Your block of residence, sir.

Okay. North Mulberry Street. I just want to hope that the things that were just said about parks and recreation and how wonderful it is and also the effects of the extreme weather that's been going on and that is directly connected to whether or not we allow a data center into our town because we have a climate crisis going on that is affecting us very much now right here in Lancaster. So the rules that are made to get around making a better future for us need to be put on hold while we decide together about whether or not we want to allow more and more fossil fuel burning or whether we want to do it in a smarter way. now that the technology is available to have green energy. And we can do that here. This is an unusual town. And I'm new to it. 2017. I'm impressed by it. I want to see us build a future not according to what large corporations and billionaires want. So thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Israel. Any other further comments on the parks and rec month?

Hearing none, Mr. Harris. Ms. Gastineau?

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones?

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch? Aye. Ms. Majan?

Aye.

Mr. Miller? Aye. Mr. Salsuiz? Aye. And President Med?

Aye. Thank you to the Lancaster Rec and thank you to our Department of Public Works team. Mr. Miller, if you would like to present Mr. Bingaman with the resolution. We would love to take a photo, but I'm not sure we... Okay. Thank you, Councilor Miller. This brings us to our public comment. Mr. Harris, do we have any pre-registered public comment this evening?

We do, Mr. President. First is Edward Wozman.

Good evening, sir. If you could please start with your name and block of residence for the meeting record.

Yeah, hi, my name's Edward. I live on West Walnut Street, 600 block. This is not related to the data center. I was gonna do this, and I realized it's probably not the first step to address the council right away, so I wasn't even gonna do it, and then I coincidentally ended up here because of the data center thing, so I might as well say what I wanted to say. I would like to request that the city council change the law removing domestic quail from poultry that is banned within city limits. These birds are very, very small. They can live in a multi-tier coop about the size of a bookshelf. You can put it out on your balcony, on your backyard. They live in there. They don't need to run around the yard causing problems. They don't cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck all the time like chickens. They're quiet. No one knows they're there. And they don't need any special preparation in the wintertime. And it would be a really great way for the citizens to have a sustainable food source. next time eggs go up to $6 a carton or whatever and they can't be fucked, excuse me, can't be messed with by these crazy tariffs or all the instability going on. It'd be really cool if you could just have some quails in your yard and eat the eggs. That's all. But I looked it up and you can't. And the only reason is because it's legal in the state and everything, but the city doesn't allow poultry. And that includes domestic quail, even though they're like this big. It's like having a fish tank, basically a big fish tank. So I'm going to get, I'm going to find a like a way to like get a petition going or something, but I don't know anything about how to like change the law. So I thought I'd address the city council, but I'm going to get it done. So you'll hear from me. Thank you, sir.

Mr. Harris, do we have any further pre-registered public comment this evening? We do, Mr. President. Next is Arthur Morris.

Good evening, Mayor Morris.

Good evening. Arthur Morris, 434 West Chestnut Street. Good evening, council and the mayor. This is my fifth or sixth Time I've been before council regarding my right to know request. I'm back tonight in part because I had attempted to respond to Mayor Arroyo's comments at your last meeting in which he mentioned me by name and you would not allow me to comment and suggested for me to come to the next meeting, which is tonight. The mayor took umbrage with my comment about the city not being transparent. He indicated that the city had been forthright in their right to know response to me. This is simply not true. I had requested a copy of the bid tabulation related to the 42-inch main project. The right to know office responded me precisely as follows. Please note generally that public documents and public bidding information for public projects and procurement is available by visiting our online bidding platform. Anyone can create an account and view bidding documents. To the extent you are requesting the bid tabulation for a bid that has not been awarded, your request is denied. I'm emphasizing that, end of quote. Even though the law requires bids to be opened in public, even though your paid advertisement for these projects said they would be opened in public, you denied my request. Why did you say denied? It clearly means you are not providing the information. You have never said you should have done better or apologize. Surely you can do better. You have recently responded to my resubmitted right to know request and provided the information. I thank you for that. But the city should have done it the first time. My hope is that you follow this openness and other similar right to know requests by the public in the future. Lastly, Council Member Hurst stated that construction costs came in with significant increases, which amounts really to some 14 million or 25% increase due to the oil price spikes from the Iran war. which is ridiculous. I've asked for information to support that. The Right to Know Office recently informed me that it was the opinion expressed by a council member. I suggest city council, when reporting on requests of the city administration, please stick to the facts or say you are expressing your own opinion. You're all quite new in your positions. It is a tough enough job. Please don't make it more difficult than necessary. I wish you well, and I'm willing to discuss the issues with you at any time. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mayor Morris. Mr. Harris, do we have any further comments that are preregistered?

We do not, Mr. President.

At this time, we will take any public comment that is not on items that are on our agenda this evening.

Tony D'Astra, 700 block of New Holland Avenue. So this isn't on your agenda. I'll preface the end. This is about a zoning determination, not an ordinance change. As the Green Party's candidate for governor, I've gone all around PA, and what I've observed has been motivating to the mission I've set out for, but horrific to the realities of the municipal system. Lancaster has been repeatedly brought up in these communities all around data centers. And just the other day in Granville Township, Mifflin County, I told their supervisors on a Sunday, mind you, it was an emergency meeting, that we're just looking for one. We're looking for a municipality to actually stand up for the public, not have people like Frank Arcoglio trying to hold these people accountable to zoning hearing boards to get kicked around. You leave us defenseless with your lack of action. Completely defenseless. It is shameful that we as a public need to take on these risks associated with fighting the data center developers directly, but this body still has a chance to do the right thing. It does. The only right thing. There is no middle ground here. The city council having not made any zoning determinations and defers further approvals in the CBA to other arms of governance. And after the doc, after the courts decided that no zoning determination had been made, leaves the third option in the MPC, which determination being made by a vote of the planning commission. And when they approved the preliminary plan, they made a determination that data centers or warehouses. And we need to be appealing that decision. The city council is separate from the planning commission. These bodies can come in conflict. That's why you need your own representation sometimes. It's why it's scary that we have one person often doing most of the legal work in the city. So the only right thing this council can do is challenge the zoning determination of the planning commission and take this zoning hearing board for a determination. Stop this madness and make the oh so challenging argument that data centers aren't warehouses. Otherwise you leave it up to us the public There is a right move. They're here to talk about all the changes we can make to the zoning ordinance. Maybe y'all have something to say. But y'all need to do significantly better because it's time for a constitutional convention in Pennsylvania because we need to be able to recall our elected officials. If you won't do the work, the public is demanding of you.

Once again, this is about items not on our agenda. So if there is any further public comment on items that are not on our agenda, please feel free to step to the microphone.

I didn't sign up, but I just want to thank the arborist, the urban forester and their crew and all the work they've done. Um, because of the storm that we had, they'd been working night and day with a very small crew and they're so efficient and they're making it better here for everybody so i want to thank them publicly thank you mr good evening miss enterline

Oh hi counselor. I just I just wanted to note that there's about like eight people. Oh yeah. Taylor enter line. I live in Columbia. I work here. There's about eight people still standing outside and more people coming. So I just want to note that people are out there if you have an empty seat near you if you could raise your hand so that we can make some more room for people to be part of this in this public forum. That is all. Thank you.

Any final public comment before we close the public comment period on items not on the agenda? Hearing none, public comment is closed. We will move on to our next item of the agenda, which is reports requested by council confirming we do not have any of those this evening, Mr. Harris. We do not, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Harris. That brings us to reports of committees of council. These meetings were held on July 6, 2026. We will start with the Public Safety Committee. Councilor Mijan.

We did not meet.

Thank you, Councilor Mijon. Next is Public Works Committee. Mr. Miller.

Thank you, Council President. The Public Works Committee did meet, and we discussed and moved forward three resolutions, one of them being the Parks and Rec Month resolution, and the other two will be on our legislative agenda later this evening.

Thank you, Councilor Miller. That brings us to Economic Development Committee. Councilor Gaston.

There is no new business on the agenda, but I wanted to mention that I did have productive meetings this past month with city staff, local businesses, and neighbors to learn more about the issues and discuss solutions to our economic development ideas.

Thank you, Council Castano.

Next we have finance, Councilor Hirsch. Thank you, Council President. Vice Finance Committee did meet on July 6th. We had two items on our agenda. Bill number 10-2026, approving a Penvest loan for the construction of the Susquehanna Large Diameter Water Transmission Main. which appears on our agenda for a first read later this evening and the other item was a presentation on the just introduced capital budget counselors as a reminder we received a jot form prior to that meeting for us to submit our questions to the administration up until friday september 4th which is the Friday before our capital budget hearing on September 8th. Members of the public can provide their questions, comments, and feedback on the city's Engage Lancaster platform. If you go to engage.cityoflancasterpa.gov, you will see towards the top the 2027-2031 capital budget questions page. Members of the public can submit their feedback until 11.59 p.m. on September 4th. That concludes the report of the Finance Committee.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. And last but not least, we have Personnel Committee, Councilor Holland-Jones.

Oh, actually, sorry, Community Planning Committee, Councilor Stoltzfus. Thank you, Council President. Community Planning Committee did meet with one item on our agenda, Resolution 68-2026, amending the official sewage facilities plan to include the 201 West King Street project. This item will appear later on our agenda this evening. And that concludes my report.

Thank you, Mr. Stoltzfus. And my apologies, Councilor Holland-Jones, the Personnel Committee.

Yes. Council president, the personnel committee met July six reviewed resolutions for appointments to the planning commission and zoning hearing board and nominations for appointment to the downtown investment district authority and parking Lancaster parking authority. That concludes my report.

Thank you. Counselor Holland Jones. Uh, this brings us to our legislative agenda and we'll start with nominations for appointment.

Yes, we do have a motion to appoint Victoria Abadir and unfortunately Victoria was not able to be at the last city council meeting so if you'd like to come forward and make a few comments you certainly can.

Thank you, everyone, for coming out. Thank you, council, for including me this evening. I apologize for not being there last week. I was traveling, but I'm thrilled to be nominated for the Downtown Investment District Board and looking forward as a downtown business owner to learning more and having some impact and working for the city for improving our Downtown Investment District.

Thank you so much. We're glad that you're a part of this.

Thank you.

So I make a motion to appoint Victoria Abadir for the Downtown Investment District Authority for the term of July 14th, 2026 to December 31st, 2031. Second. All in favor? Aye.

Councilor Holland-Jones, if we could have Council comment on the appointment. Council comments? Just wanted to thank you for your service and you know I think the. The business that you represent is a great addition to the downtown I frequent it often and I just wanted to thank you for your service to the city of Lancaster thank you for supporting local art.

Thank you.

Okay.

Mr. Harris, if you would please call the vote on the motion. Ms. Gastineau?

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones?

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch? Aye. Ms. Mijon?

Aye.

Mr. Miller? Aye. Mr. Stahlsface? Aye. And President Metz? Aye.

Okay, and we also have a reappointment of Christine Eaches to the Lancaster Parking Authority for a term from May 31st, 2026 to May 31st, 2031. So I make a motion. Well, first of all, would the council have any comments on that? Hearing none, I make a motion that she is reappointed. Second. All in favor?

Mr. Harris, would you please call a vote? Yes, Mr. President. Ms. Gastineau?

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones?

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch? Aye. Ms. Majan?

Aye.

Mr. Miller?

Aye.

Mr. Stolzfus? Aye. And President Med?

Aye. I believe that concludes our nominations for appointment. That brings us to our next Yes, those have to be done by resolution, but I would allow those to be made now for the sake of... I'm very sorry to interrupt. Yeah, no, I think that is correct that we should make those now prior to the rest of the meeting. So Mr. Harris, from a procedural standpoint, is that all well? Yeah, you can move this forward. Thank you. So we will start with Council Resolution Number 64.

Mr. Harris. A resolution of the Council of the City of Lancaster appointing Gregory E. Kesey, 323 East Frederick Street as an alternate member to the City of Lancaster Planning Commission for a four-year term effective June 1st, 2026.

Motion to approve. Second.

Second.

Councilors, we have a motion and a second. As we have gotten to know Greg Kesey through the council application process, I'm happy to see that he is serving as an alternate on the Planning Commission. Thank him for his service. And this is a great example of how folks could stay involved even after they may not Get the appointment to counsel. Do we have any council comments on the resolution?

Council president. I just want to say that I had a couple of conversations with mr Kesey over the past several months and I think between his work on the Alliance and owning and developing businesses in the city He's gonna be a great addition here. So I'm happy to see him up for appointment Thank You.

Mr. Miller any further comments?

Hearing none, Mr. Harris, if you could please call the vote. Ms. Gastineau?

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones?

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch? Aye. Ms. Majon?

Aye.

Mr. Miller? Aye. Mr. Sosfus? Aye. And President Metz?

Aye. Next, we'll have Council Resolution Number 65-2026. Mr. Harris? Aye.

resolution of the council of the city of lancaster appointing carolyn bone 325 north queen street apartment 305 to the city of lancaster zoning hearing board for a three-year term effective june 9 2026. motion to approve second counselors we have a motion in a second any council comments on the appointment any comments from the public

Hearing none, Mr. Harris.

Ms. Gastineau.

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones.

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch. Aye. Ms. Majan.

Aye.

Mr. Miller. Aye. Mr. Stossel. Aye.

And President Mann. Aye. Thank you, councillors. Next we have council resolution number 66, Mr. Harris.

a resolution of the Council of the City of Lancaster appointing Shane Kennedy, 255 South Ann Street, to the City of Lancaster Zoning Hearing Board to complete an unfinished term effective July 14, 2026.

Motion to approve.

Second.

Councilors, we have a motion and a second. We did discuss this in our committee meetings. Is there any further council comment? Any comment from the public? Hearing none, Mr. Harris.

Ms. Gastineau.

Aye.

Ms. Allen-Jones.

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch. Aye. Ms. Michon.

Aye.

Mr. Miller. Aye. Mr. Stossel. Aye. And President Med. Aye.

That'll bring us back to our legislative agenda and we will move along with ordinances for final passage. Administrative bill number 10, 2025. Mr. Harris, if you could please read it into the record.

An ordinance of the Lancaster City Council amending chapter 300 of the code of the city of Lancaster zoning to recognize computer data centers as a use requiring special regulation, providing definitions, allowing data centers by special exception in the SM zones, establishing performance standards, providing for the repeal of inconsistent ordinances and pending applications, providing for the severability of the ordinance and providing for an effective date of the ordinance.

Motion to approve.

Second. Councillors, we have a motion and a second. Before we move along, I would like to make a motion to amend section six, item B to state a data center that has made a complete application for city permits or for land development approval when required prior to June 24th, 2026. shall be permitted use in cm district and sm district and subject to the provisions of the city of lancaster zoning ordinance in effect as of june 24 2026. second counselors we have a motion and a second as you all recall during our last public hearing on this uh and our reading of this administrative bill, there was a little bit of confusion around that paragraph. So this motion to amend clarifies some of that language to state that the prior data centers that were approved prior to June 24, 2026, shall be permitted use in CM district and SM district and subject to the provisions of the city of Lancaster zoning ordinance, whereas the prior section stated this ordinance. And with that, I'll take any council comments or questions on the motion to amend. Any public comment on the amendment? Hearing none, Mr. Harris. Oh, sir, if you would like to. Again, this is on just the motion to amend.

Right.

I just didn't understand it.

Charlie Crystal, no known address. What I didn't understand, it sounded to me like you're saying that the ordinance that's coming before the council for future data centers will not apply to those that have been approved in the past. Your grandfather, is that what's?

Sir, those prior data centers were negotiated through the community benefits agreement. Those are under contract law and this amendment states that any that have been negotiated prior to June 24th shall be permitted under the CM and SM district. And as the Lancaster zoning ordinance was of June 24th. Okay.

So so you're OK.

I understand. Thank you. Thank you sir. Is there any further comment on the motion to amend. Yes please just come to the microphone as you please.

My name is Cameron Robinson and I live on the 200 block of Alma Street. For a year I've been attending meetings about these data centers. In all these meetings, not a single resident has stood up here to advocate for these data centers with good reason. The evidence is clear about the damage they will cause to the surrounding area from noise pollution to water pollution and overtaxing the power grid. Our electrical grid has been in shock since the July 4th storms. Imagine adding two data centers that will consume as much energy yearly as all of Lancaster City. It could not be more obvious, and yet this body has continued to blindly stumble towards capitulation to big business and tech oligarchy that care nothing about where we live, only their bottom line. And if you think for a second that they will abide by any promises that they have made or you will be able to constrain them once they establish a foothold here, you're sorely mistaken. To construct a data center next to Longs Park, one of our most beloved parks in the county, is madness. We are demanding that you enact a 180-day pause on any data center development so that we can find a way to keep them out of our communities. New York State, just yesterday, enacted a year-long moratorium on any data centers over 50 megawatts. The people want you to fight, and if it means taking these companies to court or fighting the city in court, then so be it. This city council... will be remembered in one of two ways. The first is as the governmental body that cowered and gave our city away and county to massive corrupt corporations. Or second, to be heralded as the city council and mayor that stood up to these corporations and said, no, the line must be drawn here. You know what the correct and moral choice is.

Again, just a level set as these comments will be heard on the motion to amend.

Good evening sir. 200 North Charlotte. On the amendment the language feels kind of vague it just says I guess question would it be possible to specify which data centers have been approved rather than just say ones that because we don't really we didn't have any visibility to this before they were here. I'm not convinced that there are not other data centers that have been approved. So it'd be great if there was a way to word the amendment to make sure that there was no sneaky side runs. You know these two are the only two that were approved. I feel like that language would be useful to make us know that there was no sneaky situation that could happen for us.

Thank you for your comment. Just to confirm there have only been two that have been proposed prior to the date.

I would add I would I would just add that that's what effectively what the date accomplishes by including the date in the ordinance that's what that accomplishes.

We will have decorum in the chamber. We appreciate people's public comment. Please come to the podium and the microphone if you wish to do so. Are there any further comments on the motion to amend? Yes, please come up to the microphone.

Kristen Donnelly, Overlook Avenue. My question is when you say approved, it sounds like the wrong word to you because I'm pretty sure they're being constructed. Is that a mistake?

Maybe approved, the language in the text amendment does not say approved, but I guess I will clarify that. The two data centers that have already been proposed are negotiated through the Community Benefits Agreement, which was passed during the last council and last administration. What the date on the motion to amend does is sets that any prior to this date would be subject to the Lancaster City Zoning Ordinance at that date.

While I'm here, are there others?

There are not.

Good evening, everybody. Alejandra Luchi, 451 Newover Street. Now, you have proven things when half of us were asleep. We didn't know about this. Now you're proving something to destroy our water, raise our bills. What does that do to economy in this place? You know how many homeless people we have in this area? And how much our taxes are going to go up, and we're paying for these people, for these data centers? How come you're going to have this conscience going to sleep by allowing this to happen, to destroy this beautiful place? Why? What's the point? You don't think she matters? You don't think all the young people matter in here for you to destroy the water just because, oh, yeah, we approve this? Really? You have to do a better job than that.

Tony Dash with 700 Block and New Holland Avenue. This is the wrong amendment. In general, We really do need to be doing more. This amendment does not go significantly far enough and I want to remind people that contract law is not zoning law like this is the problem with the city of Lancaster is that over the last few years of which some of you have been up there. We have seen the city go through legal procedures and falter tree ordinance. Mayor Sarachi mocked the resident and said what kind of legal experience do you have and then took the city to court and won. And then as a result, the city gutted the tree committee. The city council is becoming a body that we cannot trust. It has long been a body that I have not trusted. And frankly, if you want decorum in this room, respect the power that you've been given by the people of Lancaster. because this is my line in the sand. As long as I am living and breathing, I will hold every single one of you accountable for the rest of my life for selling out our community. There is no coming back from this decision. Tonight is the night you decide which side of history are you on.

David I live on Hager Street in Lancaster. I didn't come with anything prepared. I just want to say that this amendment is not strong enough. We need some sort of pause. I don't need to be an expert to tell you we need you to do something to put a pause to this. And it is if you vote this amendment as it is with everybody in this room telling you we need something stronger. That is wild to me. That's all.

Council Council Council President can we just remind folks that we will everyone will get a chance to comment on the actual text amendment ordinance this is really just on the amended language just yes as I've stated before but thank you Mr. Salsfus for clarifying that once again this is on the motion some of us just can't help ourselves I guess so that's why we're up here but uh

I live on Roll Ridge. Quick comment about oh my name's Bill Simonson. Quick comment about the Lancaster Rec. They're a great neighbor of mine. I live right up the street so they do some awesome work. So kudos to them. And I know you're thinking it yes I know I look like Jim Croce but so. Now that we got that out of the way, I would just say that as a taxpaying citizen of Lancaster, and I would just say keep the amendment as it is because then it would at least try to retroactively apply to the data centers. And as someone mentioned last time, I think our attempt here is to frustrate their attempts to build here at all. So I just want to say as a taxpaying citizen, I support my tax dollars going towards a lawsuit against the data centers who are fighting them in court. Thank you.

I believe I have three minutes. I only took one. So my other two minutes is just going to be one minute. And now that I have the clarification, I was able to think about it back there. And you have a tough job because you've got to run the city. And the city has big problems as it is. And then you have these external forces, these large private equity firms. that are trying to basically build a data center and flip it to the next guy and make a profit. And in the meantime, it's processing stuff from all over the place, not really here in service of the community. So you're the stewards of the community and we depend on you to protect us. I guess what I'm saying is that yeah the last council made a bad choice and it's OK to make bad choices and you can you can walk it back. You should use everything at your disposal and fight and if that's slow walking permits if that's uh you know taking it to court and saying or just you know trying to give them the 10 million dollars back uh we The community benefit agreement, that does not rise to the level of the general welfare of the citizens here. So anyway, good luck. I think you should table this and not give this acknowledgement of prior data centers and hold everybody accountable to the new standards that you've developed and then take the fight to the data centers in whatever way you can.

Good evening sir.

Paul Lynham Philadelphia Pike. I live within eyeshot of Greenfield Road. My observations are that currently crews are working seven days a week three shifts a day to try to push this through. Are we being made mockery of here. This amendment. needs to be backed off as stated. It is a new technology, just as back in the 1970s when TMI was first introduced. New technology, not enough known about it. We all have very, very busy lives, and unless you're able to commit to researching what's going on, you would have no idea. So things move through. Currently, in addition to New York State, Pennsylvania, along with 15 other states, is working to pass bipartisan legislation introduced by state senators Kathy Muth and Tracy Pennyquick to put a three-year moratorium on all data centers, including those under construction. There are too many questions that still need to be answered. And as citizens, we do not feel we're getting a layman's perspective on these and not talking legal talk. Contracts are commitments. That's true negotiated But again as a group you're being held responsible and I would just want to reiterate how special Lancaster is Thank you, sir

Again just just to clarify one more time. These comments are on the amendment there will be time on the zoning amendment as proposed but this is just on the motion to amend.

Yes. My name is Ryan. I live on 1030 West Clay. For the amendment could you guys put in a allowable business tax like a business privilege under the home rule that the city passed.

No, I would refer any questions to the CBA that has already been negotiated. It is on the city's website.

This would be amendment moving forward, right? So you could put in a tax that would make it unfavorable for corporations behind this to do business here?

We cannot regulate business. We can only regulate the zoning.

Not taxable variances or uses, use taxes within that zoning?

Again, what we're discussing this evening is a land use zoning amendment and what we are currently discussing now is a motion to amend that to clarify the language from the last meeting.

Okay, but you can't add new language to that.

We could certainly revisit the zoning at a later time, sir, but we cannot regulate business here in the city of Lincoln.

No, it's not regulating the business.

And we cannot levy any new taxes in the state of Pennsylvania either.

Okay.

Yeah.

Within the municipality, you can't.

Yeah, and the state law does not allow us to levy any new taxes.

So the home rule only allows you to do what type of taxation?

It allows us to increase the earned income tax by a certain percentage. That was previously capped by state law.

Got it. Thanks.

Thank you, sir.

Arnolda Brenneman from 340 West King Street. I just want to say, and this does apply to amendment and to the overall picture, everyone here in this room is representing the will of the people. and you are our public servants and your job is to hear us and to represent us and to represent the will of the people. Just wanted to remind you of that. Thank you.

Thank you. Any final comment on the motion to amend? Hearing none, Mr. Harris.

Ms. Gastineau.

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones?

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch? Aye. Ms. Majon?

Aye.

Mr. Miller? Aye. Mr. Stahl-Swiss? Aye. And President Med?

Aye. Now that brings us to the bill, the administrative bill as amended. First, you know, I would like to thank the city administration. I would like to thank city staff, my fellow counselors. But most importantly, I would like to thank the members of the public who have continued to show up. and participate in their local government and to voice their concerns and comments. Thank you to those who I've met with, those who I notice in the room who have been here all along, and those who I've met with my other fellow counselors. As someone who's been involved in this process since the prior administration, prior council, where we are at today would not be done without the public input and collaboration. But I want us to level set where we are and what we are voting on tonight. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of dangerous and irresponsible misinformation around what is being proposed. This is in no way pro data center legislation, and we are not voting on approving new data centers. We are voting on a land use zoning amendment to restrict future data centers and put in protections for residents, such as requirements for public meetings, plans for decommissioning, restricting the zoning to suburban manufacturing, which is only 16 parcels of land, And this council is doing what we are legally able to do to restrict and prevent future data center development for the future of the city of Lancaster. I understand we all have strong opinions and we all have anxieties around data centers and AI, but we must level set on what we are trying to accomplish here this evening. I ask everyone to think about the possible scenarios of not passing this amendment tonight and a future data center developer comes in tomorrow where we currently have no protections. We must put into place these protections and restrictions and we can continue to improve them in the future. We can continue to have conversations. We can continue to have collaboration. Council, we can continue to work with city staff. Council, we will continue to work with each other. More importantly, we could also continue to advocate at the state level for the necessary legislation and changes we need to protect municipalities like Lancaster and our residents for the future. Tonight I asked our own State Representative Nikki Rivera to speak on some of that proposed legislation to open up our public comment. So in closing to my fellow councilors, thank you for the important work that you joined me in doing. It is my belief that with this amendment, that this is something that we could be proud of. And we are a model for other similarly situated municipalities that are currently looking to us for guidance. And council, before I open it up to council comments, Mayor Arroyo could not be here this evening, but he did have a statement prepared. Chief of Staff Beke, if you would please read on behalf of Mayor Arroyo.

Good evening councillors and thank you. First quickly just speaking for myself as a member of the administration Amanda Bakay chief of staff 400 block of High Street. I would also again encourage councillors to pass the zoning amendment. If we don't provide for use then we are exposed to data centers anywhere. This provides a use in 16 parcels, as you mentioned, and would require both the zoning hearing board and city council approval for any new proposed data centers. Oversight that we do not have as we sit in this room today. Prolonging this amendment means that we risk every day that goes by. And now, thank you for allowing me to read this statement on Mayor Arroyo's behalf. As you are aware, the schedule for this ordinance has changed since it was tabled at your last meeting. First, so from Mayor Arroyo. First, please excuse my absence this evening as I am attending a pre-planned training. However, I wanted to ensure that I communicated to council and residents my support for the proposed zoning amendment. I believe this is a strong ordinance that will effectively regulate data centers in Lancaster City and ultimately protect our residents. The amendment is the culmination of recommendations from city staff, both city and county planning commissions, and most importantly, the advocacy of our residents to ensure that the impact of data centers on our quality of life is as minimal as possible. I want to emphasize that right now, Lancaster City does not have any protections or restrictions for data centers. If passed, this amendment will be a step in the right direction. If not, Lancaster City will be vulnerable. Some of the recommendations that have come up during council meetings, such as limiting business activities or enacting moratoriums, can only legally happen if our state legislature, both the House and the Senate, work together to pass laws that allow them. I will continue to join you in advocating that our state officials give municipalities like Lancaster City the tools that we need to protect and enhance our quality of life. While this ordinance is a step in the right direction, it's not the final step. We will continue to evaluate our zoning as technology changes and the needs of our communities change. My administration will collaborate with the City Council to investigate further opportunities to protect and limit the negative impact of any type of industry in Lancaster City. Thank you very much, members of council.

Thank you, Chief of Staff Beke. With that, we will open it up to Council. Council President, if I could just make one clarification. Chief of Staff Beke, I believe you mentioned that with this new ordinance, there would be both Zoning Hearing Board approval and City Council approval. I think this ordinance just has Zoning Hearing Board approval.

I apologize. You're correct, Councilor Salas-Fuz. Yes, Zoning Hearing Board approval, which is not currently provided for as we sit in this room this evening. Yes, thank you. Thank you.

And with that, we will open it up to Council comments. Mr. Vice President?

Thank you, Councillor Ahmed. I just want to summarize my thoughts on this based on the facts as they were presented in the June 24th hearing. As has been mentioned multiple times, local municipalities across Pennsylvania are required by law to provide all lawful uses somewhere within their zoning ordinance. We do not have the ability to ban a use in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania without action from the legislature. This ordinance, if passed, would limit data center development to just 16 parcels and only by special exception and only after a public hearing and providing numerous reports. It also comes with requirements around pre- and post-construction noise studies, decommissioning, air quality testing, energy and water utilization, etc. The most important provision in my mind is that 16 parcels in the entire city would data center development even be a possibility. This is over 90% reduction of industrial parcels that would be available for this kind of development. For all those reasons, I will be voting in favor of bill number 10-2025 because until we do, we are vulnerable. And another thing that was stated in the hearing on June 24th is that several informal inquiries have come our way about purchasing properties for data center development. I think it would be irresponsible of us to not pass this text amendment tonight without to leave this room without passing this. The Lancaster County Planning Commission made some recommendations that we were not able to incorporate in this draft without restarting the 45-day review period and sending this back to the city and county planning commissions. I would implore the administration to incorporate these suggestions where possible in future text amendments or as part of the comprehensive zoning reform that is currently being worked on. Lastly, earlier this year, the Lancaster County Planning Commission released a guide for planning around data centers. In this document, they listed 10 municipalities that contain parcels of land suitable for data center development, which just means they could see a data center developer wanting to build on those parcels based on characteristics of those parcels. Last month, LMP wrote a comprehensive article about what Lancaster County municipalities are doing around data centers based on that publication, based on the County Planning Commission's publication and based on the article. Four of the 10 municipalities that have parcels that are quote unquote suitable for data center development are taking action. We are one of them. The remaining six however have taken no action and as far as I can tell have not even begun discussing amending their zoning around data centers which makes them vulnerable. I'm bringing this up because I know there are residents of some of these municipalities in this room tonight. These six municipalities have taken zero action to date are Lancaster Township, Manheim Township, Kanoi Township, Upper Laycock Township, West Earl Township, and West Hemfield Township. Those six in that county planning commission guide had parcels that were determined suitable for data center development and they have not taken any action. So if you live in any of these communities and you care about this issue, I would strongly recommend you reach out to your township supervisors because until they update their zoning ordinances, they too are vulnerable. That concludes my comments.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Councilor Gassina, please.

Thank you, Council President. Before I would take any vote, I just want to share that I was appointed in May of 2026, so just two months. I was not on city council when the first two data centers were approved, and I was not on city council when the community benefits agreement was coordinated. I had no say in any of those things that happened in the past. I am on city council now, and I want to do more to strengthen this ordinance when we undergo comprehensive zoning reform, because I am not entirely competent in the language as proposed in the amendment. And I think that we need more watertight language that incorporates the standards that our neighbors deserve. I would have liked to see more guidance from the state legislature. In the meantime, what I can do as a city councilor now is work to incorporate more public feedback. I've really enjoyed the meetings I've had with neighbors so far, and my door is absolutely open to any future conversations that folks want to have. I'm sharing that feedback with the pertinent folks in city council and city staff and just want to share that we do hear you. We do appreciate what you're saying and that It's important that we have some protection going forward. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Gastineau.

Council President.

Yes, Mr. Miller, go ahead.

Thank you and I would also like to say that I was not on council when the first two data centers were approved so I'm in this process now and with that being said I had some thoughts I wanted to share on the amendment. I'll start by saying I appreciate the Arroyo administration's leadership on the current zoning amendment and all the time and effort of city staff. I do believe we should pass the amendment tonight as it stands because it provides critical protections that should be in place immediately. I realized that updating the current plan before us would kickstart a lengthy review process with the county. Um, so we can't wait to put those in place later after that. So I think we start now with this. So I propose we vote tonight for this amendment. Um, and then, um, I also want to mention that I have contacted mayor Arroyo and director Delfts to request that the city consider. an iterative path forward after we pass this amendment tonight. While the current amendment is strong, there are recommendations from the Lancaster County Planning Commission's initial review that I think should be explored further to create even more concrete protections for residents. I think making this an iterative process is the best way to not only protect the public, but to build trust. Specifically, I requested that the city consider pursuing a county recommendation to require a vibration study and mitigation plan from potential future data center projects. The current amendment has a noise study and mitigation plan requirement, which is strong, but I do not believe it will appropriately measure and protect residents from inaudible low frequency vibrations or what is known as infrasound, which has proven to have a negative impact on human biology. I think adding a vibration study and mitigation plan requirement or something similar to clarify how we measure and enforce limits on infrasound is necessary. The New York Times quotes Scott Hamilton, a member of the Acoustic Society of America and a consultant on data center projects in their reporting that states, instead of audibly hearing these extremely low frequencies, people physically feel them as pressure fluctuations, much like the deep vibration of a bass drum shaking your core at a concert. The article goes on to report that this can leave the traditional gauges of noise and solutions for dampening inadequate to meet modern needs. Some residents living near infrasound frequently report chronic sleep deprivation and insomnia, headaches, internal ear pressure, and anxiety. Many communities set noise standards using an A weighted decibel scale, which mimics human hearing and discounts or ignores low frequency sounds admitted by data centers. In contrast, there is a C weighted scale that is intended to capture low frequencies and measure infrasound. I am not an expert on this, but I think that we should look into including infrasound specific noise monitoring requirements and enforcement mechanisms. Sorry I am almost done here. An issue popping up in lawsuits involving data centers across the country involving interest infrasound is that it's very hard to prove that infrasound was not already present before a data center was built. And I think it would greatly strengthen our position as a city to drill down on specific requirements for measuring vibration as well as specific monitoring and enforcement mechanisms for violations. Again I'm supportive of the amendment tonight because we must put protections in place. However I ask my colleagues on council to join me in working with the administration to treat this as an iterative process and look into the vibration study and other recommendations from the county planning commission. And with that I'll invite their thoughts on this.

Thank you Mr. Miller do we have any further comments. Yes. Yeah.

Council President if I could start with a couple of questions. Is city solicitor here this evening. Is Barry here this evening.

I believe I did see him earlier.

Okay, so I don't have these questions are for planning staff or for the city solicitor So I'll let you decide who to answer So I know myself and some other folks on council been getting inquiries from city residents asking if it would be possible for the city to use the curative amendment process and the municipal planning code to put a pause on data center applications and I wanted to just get some insights from city staff and whether you looked into that and what conclusions you draw drew I

Yeah, thank you, Councillor. I would defer to Barry for a more in-depth response to that. But I would say that we have looked into that. There is at least one other case where that has been decided, has been put forward. I think is it New Britain?

Little Britain Township, yeah.

Yep. And based on the feedback that we've gotten from our solicitor, Mr. Hanwerger, there is some concern about whether that is legally defensible.

And so is Mr. Hanwerger here to answer questions or is he not? I'm here.

Okay.

I don't believe it's legal. I'm sorry. OK that's the answer. OK. So you know I think part of the part of the challenge that that. Yeah.

You want to come talk to me directly please do.

We will have decorum in the chamber we will have decorum in the chamber.

Yeah, I think the decorum also has to start with city staff. I'm sorry, Council President. It was under my understanding that Mr. Hanward was not present during the hearing. And one of the reasons we're here tonight was because we weren't able to answer questions that were asked during that hearing. So Mr. Hanward, are you able to answer questions here this evening?

Depends on the question.

Okay. So now I did ask a question. You want me to repeat it?

No, I don't believe the curative amendment process would work in this case.

Can you give me more?

Because I don't think there's anything defective in your zoning orders, which is what a curative amendment requires. A use not provided for is provided for in our city ordinance and is provided for under the MPC, therefore saying that there's no permitted use

called for does not work to make this a curative amendment. Okay, so I also did some research on this and I think you are right in this case and I think unfortunately part of the problem here, so my understanding of the curative amendment process which is allowable in the Municipal Planning Code is that a municipality would have to declare part of their zoning code as invalid. The other municipalities that are using this, my understanding is that as Barry mentioned, they're declaring that this use is not providing for in their zoning code and declaring that that is invalid. in our case since we do have two data centers that were approved under our existing zoning code as in we provided a use for those zoning for those data centers i don't think it's legal for us to then go back and say that our zoning code is invalid because we sort of set a precedent so i think if we if if we were going to take that opportunity the opportunity at least my understanding would have been you know when those initial applications were received Is that a fair assessment?

Well, I think that's somewhat correct. I don't think it really has anything to do with the existing data centers. I think it's more the fact that the zoning ordinance specifically provides for a use not provided for. It treats it essentially and covers how it's handled. On top of it, I do believe that regardless of whether we had data centers or not, the law is established by the municipality's planning code and interpreted by the Supreme Court provides that if you don't have a use that's provided for, there is a procedure already established, which even if your ordinance doesn't say what it is, it's allowed in any district. So therefore, the failure to address a use is not a flaw or a defect in your ordinance. It's a defect in your thinking of uses that can always be addressed going forward.

Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, since we have the use not provided for in our zoning code, that kind of covers.

Yeah, both in our code and under the MPC, which specifically says what your code has to do with it.

Okay, so I also, I want to ask you another question, Mr. Handwerker. You know, so I understand that, you know, this is a new land use that really should be regulated at a higher level than local government. I mean, this should be really regulated at the state and federal level. Absolutely agree. It is, you know, it's a very resource intensive land use. There's a lot of potential consequences that I think, you know, a lot of us are just now learning about. So it also means that there's not a lot. I'm not a lawyer. So but I'm assuming that there's not a lot of established case law when it comes to how to properly regulate data centers.

Is that a fair assessment? It's more than a fair assessment.

It's every every state and every municipality across the country is dealing with the same issue. From your position, when you're looking at something like this that is, again, a new land use, it's unchartered territory, how are you making legal decisions if you can't really rely on a precedent?

Well, I'm not making legal decisions, but if you're asking me how I'm giving legal opinions, I'll be happy to tell you that you look at the same way a court would, the same way a judge would, is you look at all the other things that have come before it, you look at the statutes in place, and you give your best interpretation of what you think the judge would do based on the existing law.

Okay. And there are some municipalities that are kind of like pushing the edge a little bit with, you know, kind of zoning, you know, using zoning in a way that like we haven't traditionally used zoning before to try to put in some, you know, protections around energy use and water usage. I mean, I have seen that in other municipalities. Is that fair? I can't speak to other municipalities. Okay. And do you ever, or maybe this is, I would ask the mayor, but the mayor's not here. Like, I'm wondering, as a city administration, do we ever get a second opinion, a second legal opinion? Many times. Okay. And in this case, did we get other legal opinions for this text amendment? Okay. Okay. Thank you. So, I guess the final question, because as I've, you know, done research, and I know fellow counselors have done research, I know a lot of folks in this room have done research, like, I cannot identify a way to do a moratorium unless we get that Senate bill passed at some point, unless there's some sort of state law that passes.

You're absolutely correct. There's a Supreme Court case directly on point on that that says that the MPC does not allow for moratoriums. That's why the Senate bills are being proposed.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So I do have some comments. Thank you. I appreciate you taking time to answer those questions and taking time to be here tonight. You know, I want to, and sorry, I'll try not to be too lengthy with these comments, but, you know, I kind of want to share with my colleagues up here and folks in the room sort of where I'm at. But I first want to acknowledge how we got here. I referenced this at our last meeting, and I think it's just really important. To say again, this isn't a single point in time and the many emotions that folks have brought into this room, some of it is related to these larger questions around the impact of AI on jobs, on our community. There is a lot that we're carrying, but some of it is also a result of this process. which has not been a good one. I was, along with many of you, we found out from the LNP that there had been staff decisions made about two proposed data centers and that there was not gonna be any public process. And that was not okay. I want to acknowledge that. I want to acknowledge that many folks are in this room tonight, have been in this room other nights at city council meetings and planning commission meetings. I was on planning commission. last year i heard from many of you and again it was it was democracy in action it was you folks coming out that really put a lot of pressure on the administration to at least sign a community benefits agreement you know fingers crossed that we can hold those data centers accountable through that agreement it's better than not having anything but that only happened because of public pressure And also, because of public pressure, we started the process to actually draft a data center text amendment that would properly regulate data centers. We started drafting that in August of last year. That's almost a year ago that we started drafting that. We had our first reading in October, which was with almost an entirely different council. We then got comments from the Lancaster City Planning Commission, Lancaster County Planning Commission, and all of those were given to staff in December. I also, and this is not an excuse, but just want to acknowledge, since December, we have a new administration. We have almost an entirely new council. I am the chair of the Community Planning Committee, and this ordinance is coming out of my committee. I'm new in this role, as many of us are, and I should have put more pressure on the administration, on staff, to make sure that they know that this is a priority for our community. I mean, looking around the room, it's clearly a priority for our community. That's part of my responsibility. We had a gap where staff got these comments in December and not much happened for the first part of the year. Again, I take responsibility, that's part of my role. I had, Director Delfts and I had conversations about this, you know, a couple of months ago, and at that time, I was in agreement that, you know, look, we need to move faster on this. We, again, as folks have said, we are in a vulnerable position right now where we already have, you know, two data centers coming in, and we have lots of other spots, you know, that potentially could hold a data center without having current regulations. So I was in favor of moving forward, of scheduling the hearing that we had a couple weeks ago and doing a second reading. Now it was my understanding that we still had some time to make some changes. And if you were at the hearing a couple weeks ago, that clearly wasn't the case. So I just, again, want to acknowledge there was some action that happened last fall, and then months went by without you hearing from us, knowing what we're working on, and without us making this the priority that it needs to be. So I apologize for that. And again, I acknowledge my role in that. So having said all of that, I do want to also say that I agree that we need to get something in place now. We do not have an option for a moratorium. The curative amendment I don't think is an option for us. And I do think and I do agree with the administration that we need to get something in place now. I think the draft that is in front of us tonight is a lot better than the first draft. Some of it because of county planning commission recommendations, city planning commission recommendations, some of the recommendations from folks sitting in this room. We are in a much better place. We are limiting this to suburban manufacturing. As other folks have said, that takes it down from around 200 potential sites throughout the city to 16. But there are still 16 sites that we will be allowing data centers in. And as others have mentioned, there are some of those that are very close to Conestoga Pines Park, which is also very close to Conestoga River. There are neighborhoods and residences and businesses around that area. And there's already a data center that's being built in that area. So I... Sorry, I lost my spot in my notes. So I agree that we need to do something, but we need this text amendment to be stronger. So I think many of the recommendations from Lancaster County Planning Commission were good. And these are the ways that I would like to see us work on additional changes to this ordinance. So as Councilor Miller mentioned, in addition to the noise mitigation plan, having a vibration mitigation plan, I think we need to be more clear in the text amendment about the requirements of those plans. County Planning Commission recommended requiring an inventory of every item in a data center that will generate noise or vibration, and making sure there's a plan to mitigate all of those noises. It is really critical that it is in the design phase of these data centers where you can make design choices that minimize noise and minimize vibration after they're built. It's a little too late. So I think it's really critical that we include those components in our zoning ordinance. I believe that we should have ongoing monitoring of the sites, not just at the one year mark, and have specific language in this ordinance that includes the consequences of violations. And I think both the noise mitigation and vibration mitigation plan should be submitted with the initial zoning application. Regarding energy use, this was a recommendation from Lancaster County Planning Commission to include language that says if an applicant proposes to connect the data center to the electric grid, consider requiring the applicant to provide a fully executed letter of authorization from the applicable electric service provider certifying that the necessary capacity is available and that the electric service provider will serve the data center. Any known impacts on consumer electronic rates and availability to other uses should also be noted. Again, we don't regulate the energy grid, but we can put some language in here to make sure that there is ample energy available, and there are other municipalities that have been including that language. For water, Lancaster County Planning Commission recommended that there's a water feasibility study and include this sentence, no data center shall be approved unless the water feasibility study demonstrates that the anticipated water supply yield is adequate for the project and that the proposed water withdrawals and discharge will not endanger or adversely affect the quantity and quality of groundwater supplies or surface waters in the facility, in the vicinity. Recognizing that we're in a good position with the city owning our own water authority, including some language in the ordinance that explains the city's ability to enforce water allotments would be helpful. I've also seen other municipalities requiring the closed loop cooling system in their text amendments. It's something that I would like us to look into. In addition, Lancaster County Planning Commission recommended that we require an environmental impact assessment. Again, I think this is something that's worth looking into. And then finally, I would like to see us require data center developer to provide a virtual option for the community meeting. I mean, that should be an easy one, right? They're tech companies, they should be able to do virtual options. So all of that to say, you know, when you look at this draft, it states that interim draft. And I know the plan has been to revisit this ordinance as part of the larger comprehensive zoning code rewrite. But that's at least a two year process. And I don't feel comfortable moving this forward if we don't have a plan to keep working on it. So Given what we've heard so far tonight and given again where we're at, and I just will continue to acknowledge this has not been a great process, but where we're at tonight, I think I would like to propose a compromise where we move forward with approving these regulations this evening, but then we begin immediately working on updating them by revisiting Lancaster County Planning Commission's recommendations, and we ensure that there are ample opportunities for the community to provide input. So that's where I'm at. I feel like we have to, we should approve this tonight, but I want a commitment that as council and as staff, that we're gonna prioritize this. We're gonna look at more of the Lancaster County planning recommendations. We're gonna look at what other municipalities are doing, and we're gonna include more protections for all members of our community. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Stolzfus. Yeah, Councillor Holland-Jones, please.

Yes, I just would like to say that along with some of the other councillors tonight, I too am new to this process as of February. So I was not a part of the actual vote, but I do, but I have been listening and have heard all the voices here tonight. Your voices are certainly have meaning. And I believe that there is a lot more to do in terms of the environment and ensuring that we have a safe place to live, whether for the air, the water, the sound. But I will be voting tonight to pass the amendment, but I do think that there's more that we need to do.

Thank you, Councillor Holland-Jones. Councillor Mijon, yes, go ahead, please.

Good evening. I just want to make clear to everybody that we have nothing right now to regulate these companies. So that's what I'm going to be voting to support this amendment because we need something in place in order for us that we can go back and fix it.

Thank you, Councilor Mijon. Lastly, I will just address a comment from some of the councilors who are new, who have stated that they were not a part of the prior council. When I was appointed to council after Ismael Smith-Wadell became a state representative, I was immediately appointed the finance chair. We had the budget process coming the next week, and I did not show up to chair that meeting and say, I'm new, I need time to look over things. We have taken an oath, we have a great responsibility to the community, and we have had many conversations about how we could make this better, what we could do, but I do want to just address that topic. Myself and Vice President Hirsch were on the last council. I'm a part of many conversations with municipal leaders across the state and across the nation who say that our CBA is a model for other communities across America. um so i i just want us to pause that you know as a council there are going to be items there are going to be key city initiatives that we may not have been a part of that have been going on for sometimes decades but it is the responsibility of this council and as your council president just want to make that statement that you know although we may have not been involved we're not here to litigate how the two data centers became proposed you know we are that's not what we are here doing tonight we are here to add protections and we are here to be leaders and put in protections for future data center use so I would just caution council when we try to respectfully when we try to detach ourselves from what we are here to do. And with that, before we open it up to public comment, I did invite State Representative Nikki Rivera to talk about some of those legislation pieces that are going on in the House so that the community could be best apprised on how they could move forward and how we could all advocate together at the state level. So thank you, Representative Rivera. Your three minutes will begin now.

Thank you for having me. And wow, how extraordinary to be in a room full of people in this community that prioritize our environment, that prioritize the people that live here. Wherever you're sitting in this room, it's obvious we all have the same goal. So I applaud this room of people for coming out. As a member of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, as one of the PA House of Representatives on that commission, I prioritize the environment as well. Clean waters, clean streams are good for all of us. Also the Chesapeake Bay but for us first as a member of the Human Services Committee and the aging aging committee in the House I prioritize people as well. And so I'm glad to see that that's what we share in this community as I listen to all of these conversations tonight. but I do appreciate the opportunity to share what's been going on at the state level. What is illegal for municipalities to do could be changed by state law, so that's what we're working on. In recent months, I'm going to make sure I stick to my three minutes. In recent months, the PA House has considered and passed several bills aimed at regulating the rapid growth of large-scale data centers in response to concerns from communities, utilities, environmental organizations, And it's all regarding energy costs, infrastructure strain, water usage, and environmental impacts. It's important to note that any legislation about future development is unlikely to affect data center projects already underway in Lancaster County. Not just in Lancaster County, but all over the Commonwealth. Those that are already underway would not be impacted by future developmental laws. One of the legislative items that passed into law this past Sunday along with our state budget only two weeks late is the requirement for data center facilities to submit annual reports regarding total energy and total water consumption. In addition they must report efficiency measures taken in the prior year to reduce consumption. And the PA Department of Environmental Protection, along with the Public Utility Commission, will issue an annual report combined that summarizes the entire state's data center water and energy usage. So that will be starting as of our new budget. There are several bills that we've passed out of the P.A. State House of Representatives that await attention from the P.A. Senate. So if you have a pencil and a piece of paper I have an action list for you. If any of these pique your interest please reach out to your senator and ask them to give these bills a vote during their remaining 11 days. We have 11 days in the House and 11 days in the Senate to pass the remaining bills that have been proposed this session. We have those 11 days throughout September October and November. The first one I would ask you to push for is House Bill 1834. That was written by my colleague, Representative Rob Matze, and it's about creating a statewide data center regulation, and it prohibits utilities from passing infrastructure upgrades or increased energy demand costs onto residential payers. Again, that's House Bill 1834. It passed to the Senate. It's awaiting attention in the Senate. Another one my colleague rep Greg Vitale who's the chairman of the Environmental Committee has an amendment to House Bill 2198 which would repeal the data center tax exemption. There were incentives put in place during COVID 19 that would attract development of data centers here in Pennsylvania. So we are trying to de-incentivize now by taking away those tax credits. Obviously, development is skyrocketing, profits are soaring, and repealing tax exemption, and I have to stress, it's on certain equipment that data centers purchase in order to function. There's an exemption for sales tax for some of that equipment. We want to repeal that. House Bill 2151. It is by my colleague, Rep. Kyle Donahue. It creates a model ordinance, much like what Lancaster is already doing that the other municipalities that were mentioned earlier are not yet doing. We are ahead of the game. by creating model ordinance for municipalities so that there's guidance on building height facility size zoning standards planning considerations and it would serve as a voluntary template to assist municipalities. I think what's scaring some of our other representatives in the House is that people think it's a mandate to use those ordinances and it's not. It's a tool in the toolbox for everybody to have something to use as they put into place what our council is trying to put into place now. So another bill, a House Bill 2359 by my colleague Joe Cerisi is the Data Center Transparency Act, which would prohibit state and local government agencies from entering into non-disclosure agreements so that all project information is available to the public. And finally, my colleague Rep. Paul Friel has House Bill 2496. That one requests temporary zoning pause for data centers so that municipalities can have the needed time to update local ordinances. So we need to get a few things passed and then give some time to implement them. So again, the two large-scale data centers that are currently under contract here in Lancaster City are under the community bargaining agreement that's attached to them for reporting energy and water use. That's what they'll be able to do, as well as reporting efficiency measures based on what we've just passed with our new budget. and the laws passed from the from the P.A. State House are awaiting Senate attention. Please call your senator and every senator all 50 of them in the entire Commonwealth and ask them to push these data center protection bills. Thank you. I'll give my notes to Council President Ahmed. Yeah there are a lot of facts on my Web site from the whole budget that just passed on Sunday. But if you'd like to see this I'll make sure that city council has it.

Miss.

So just to reiterate what he was saying, if I could, yes, you can find all of this information I'm talking about online. You can go to the PA General Assembly website. If you're in my house district, please sign up for the weekly email newsletters from my office or simply call me. I'll tell you how to find this information. But do a Google search, too. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Representative Rivera. We appreciate your comments. Thank you. I did like Council Council just for some housekeeping I did let representative Rivera go over her minutes as she was giving some very important follow-up information that the community asked for we will be enforcing the three minutes we asked folks to please keep the quorum we asked folks to please keep your comments as to the zoning amendment once again we are not here to litigate the prior data centers or our opinions on AI so Mr. Arcolio, was there council comments prior?

Council President, I don't mean to jump in front of people, but some of the points that we raised were directed at staff and Director Delft specifically, and I had some positive communication about the willingness of city staff to pursue updates to this in like an iterative process. And I was just curious if we could give him a second to speak to that or answer that before we begin public comment.

Mr Delphs if you would like you know feel free to address council certainly and thank you Councillor Miller and I'll be very brief I know many people want to speak I did want to just go back to the history that Councillor Stoltzfus was describing As, as he noted and other counselors noted city staff first started the process in recommending a zoning ordinance related to or zoning amendment related to data centers in August of last year. um at that time there were some tools at our disposal but not very many for the most part we were devising that particular ordinance from from scratch of course doing some best practice research but i do think that even in its initial form in october it was a fairly good bill then we went through the uh standard municipal planning code process, which is set by state law. We got additional comments from the City Planning Commission, from the County Planning Commission, and we've been able to incorporate many of those into the bill that's before you tonight. There are some There are some recommendations that county planning staff made that there's still some question about the legal defensibility of those items and whether it could put the entire ordinance at risk. And so I think there is definitely room for more study. And I very much want to commit to you and for a member of the public here today. The reason why I talked about the history and starting in August is that our work is always iterative. And we're here to work at the desire of the mayor and the council. And if that is the will of the mayor and the council to do more work on a data center ordinance, we would be pleased to do that. Not only for the data center, but other parts of the zoning code we're working on almost all of the time. The only thing that we'll have to decide together is about how exactly we approach the sequence and the cadence of the zoning amendments, because we have a lot of work to do around a number of different policy priorities, and we'll work together with you all on the schedule. But yes, I do, to be clear, this is work that we are always doing, and we're willing to Make what I think is a strong bill Even stronger as we go.

Thank you director Thank you for your patience. Mr. Arcola.

No problem Frank our Coleo old Trinity place. I I'm here to talk about trust and I think the trust has been lost and lost substantially and let's go through that process and Secret meetings weren't done, letters got secretly issued. The two data centers that we're talking about grandfathering in were approved as if they were warehouses. And that is an abomination and offensive to the English language. That is clearly not the case. So everybody jumped on it in July to try to stop it. We were told, oops, too late. And so we tried to get other things done. We tried to get a zoning amendment started. yes it was started but as again it took what eight months ten months to get to where we are right now really i mean and now we're being told hair on fire hair on fire we're at such risk well we've been at risk every day for the last 10 months i didn't see anybody from the city administration saying we've got to do this no nothing Right? We came, we saw the original zoning amendment proposed. It was very, very weak. We added, we recommended changes. Many other people, the Planning Commission, other people recommended changes. There were substantial changes made to this amendment. But last time we were told, oh, no other changes could possibly be made to it. Now, should I trust that from the same people who brought us data center as warehouses? We can't change anything. We've got to do it as is, and we got to do it now, hair on fire. The wolf is at the door. That's not right. Now we're saying, oh, it's an iterative process. And maybe by the time, two or three years from now, when we do comprehensive zoning change, that we will get some really additional things that everybody here wants. Should I trust that? Who is going to enforce this? Who is going to make sure that these priorities stay? I would love to get trust in our administration. I don't see it. Not from anybody here. So thank you.

All righty in interest of time we do have a favorite statement. My name is Kevin Lynn I live a couple blocks over on Chestnut Street. Good evening fellow citizens city staff council members. I want to be direct about where I stand on data centers. I'm not here to shut down data center development in central Pennsylvania but I do not think uncritical enthusiasm is right either. The honest position is a middle road. The benefits are real, tax base, construction, operations jobs, and a foothold in a digital economy that isn't going away. Pretending otherwise doesn't serve this community. But the concerns deserve real engineering answers, not dismissal. AI data centers are not the data centers of 10 years ago. A single AI server rack can draw 10 times the power of a traditional one. And that heat has to go somewhere. Modern facilities use liquid cooling. And depending on how it's designed, It either recirculates in a sealed loop as the two under construction do or which is like your car's radiator system or it uses cooling towers that Continuously consume real water from the local supply for as long as that facility runs That's a design choice a developer makes it's exactly the question this council should be asking before approval not discovering afterward And here's what hasn't been said in the room yet. Central Pennsylvania is already showing the country how to do this. A former industrial printing plant east of here was converted into a multi-billion dollar AI campus on already industrial land touching no farmland, drawing on deregulated power market with nuclear generation coming back online shortly. Compare that to what's been proposed elsewhere in the country. Ladies and gentlemen tens of thousands of acres of open land and water stress states betting that risk can be exported onto a community's water table. Lancaster doesn't have to make that bet. We've already shown a better one works. So my ask isn't yes or no to data centers. It's this make citing standards cooling system disclosure and brownfield first preference part of how this council evaluates every proposal ask whether the cooling loop is closed or open before a shovel goes in the ground. Prefer industrial land over farmland whenever available which is what you're proposing to do with those 16 sites and I commend the council for that. Central Pennsylvania has the fundamentals We have the power, we have the water, and we have the workforce, and now a working model. We keep that advantage by asking the right questions, not by picking a side and stopping there.

Thank you, sir.

Hi. My name is Sarah Eder Hinojosa. I live on the 700th block of North Chivin. I'm going to keep this short because I want to watch Andor with my husband. So I'll just be a minute. I want to start by saying I share almost all the concerns about the ordinance that are probably going to be brought up tonight and that were brought up by our own counselors. And I in many ways understand the reasoning why many of you are probably going to vote yes tonight. I understand why from your perspective voting tonight to approve and then revisiting this during comprehensive rezoning is the lowest risk option for us as a city. I work in social work with low income families here in Lancaster. I understand very much how the city getting sued would not be a cool stick it to the man thing but rather would hurt the most marginalized among us. I don't know all of your personal stances on the impact of artificial intelligence writ large. I wish I did. But I do agree that voting tonight for this ordinance is not necessarily a vote for AI. So the two things I did want to bring up, though, is the concern about the legality of the moratorium. It's slightly unclear because in my perspective, this is the first time we've publicly seen this addressed with our council. that this relies on the zoning ordinance not being defective. And I understand that it is technically effective in the sense that it gives a use, but that we see deficiencies in it. Wherever the law seems to fall on that issue, we are at least a year late in that conversation. that this is the first time we're seeing that explained to us in the public. As far as I'm aware, I'm happy to be correct on that if I've missed it another time. We are seeing municipalities move on this across the country. If that's a legal option worth exploring, it should have started a long time ago. A second issue I want to bring up is Mayor Arroyo's leadership on this topic. He is not here, so that's unfortunate, but I really respect his administration for many reasons. I voted for him. I see his approach on AI thus far as a very basic establishment status quo perspective on AI. I think it's important to acknowledge that our counselors, some of them have been willing to say uncomfortable things about their own government. You receive a small stipend to do this work part-time. You're trying to solve a housing crisis, a public works sewage crisis, mitigate climate change, climate-less things. The one person in this body who is full-time and receives a substantial salary is, you know, not here and has had a really wishy-washy stance on data centers and artificial intelligence writ large. So... I know that Mayor Arroyo is a business-forward person, and I appreciate how that supports our small family-run businesses that need every push they can get. I'm not clear on where his commitment to business and revenue ends and where his commitment to our quality of life begins. So I would urge you as councillors to push him to have a clearer, more nuanced, and deeper stance on this issue. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey, what's up? Kirk Vivaldi, Zero Black, Plum Street. Man, I had something written out and I feel like we're all staring at like people are just sitting on asbestos right now and like, nah, we're running some studies on it. It's going to be fine. But we're like, no, dude, it's asbestos. Anyway, this feels like something straight out. of dystopian fiction like Cyberpunk 2077, faceless megacorps rolling into the community, promising jobs and touting no impact while not so quietly building the infrastructure of a corporate controlled future. Do we really want these data centers humming along? So handful of corpos and investors can profit. Environmental, I don't need to speak about that any more than anybody else already has. How about what these things actually do? How about a cool number? 57.4% as reported on a study by CloudFlare of what is currently now just bot traffic on the internet, right? That's what these things do, right? CloudFlare, by the way, if you don't know, is like when the internet goes down, it's because CloudFlare has an issue. They're like really big, right? Um, so cool. Let's, you know, let's, let's get those scams going because I need those clusters to power somebody's grandma getting God for that 2k.

You know what I'm saying? Come on.

Are we really going to stand here and say, oh, nobody saw any of this coming. You know, when somebody's insides are vibrating out or whatever that God forsaken weapon was that you were talking about with some infrasound, you know what I mean? Nobody could have saw this coming. They assured us everything was just super awesome. Right. Verbiage in yours. What does good faith to a company mean? What does good faith from a company mean?

Hey, we're gonna do our best. Well, no, yeah, you are, right?

They're gonna do their best at the most cost-effective way. All right, closed loop, same deal. They don't wanna do it because it's expensive. It's better, right?

Man. All right, look.

We're not gonna be here for all the destruction this wrecks, right? I mean, I'm old, dude, I'm 47 years old, you know what I mean?

I actually work in IT, you know what I mean?

And I gotta hate these things. AI, no thank you, right? You, like, I feel like a lot of other people's companies, it's just forced down the throat, right? There's nothing we can do. These AI giants already sat on me and I can't get them off. Oh, they're so big. What are you doing? What are you doing? Oh, going forward, great, but the two that are already here and just happens to be the only two that are on the table, right? Now, they're cool with whatever it was. I appreciate what you guys are trying to do, but the public opinion is obviously, nah, man, nobody wants this. I mean, some rich a-holes do somewhere, you know, that are lining some pockets, but we sure as shit don't. Thank you.

Good evening.

Taylor Raymond 500 block of St. Joseph Street. This has taken 11 months. The original timeline for the zoning ordinance amendment had it being passed in early January of this year. If you want to claim that we need to put this in place right now to keep us from being vulnerable, where was the action for the past six months when it seemed like nothing was happening? I got no information. or very little information at best. You also, we are told that you can't add new things to the ordinance without risking starting the whole process over and leaving us vulnerable. You added an entire decommissioning plan between the first draft and the second, and I don't understand what the difference is between that and a virtual public hearing. Regardless of whether the curative amendment is legally defensible or not, the next things that need to be put in place are recommendations by the County Planning Commission, including requiring, not saying they may, but they are required to hold a virtual public hearing. It can be the same one as the in-person, but there must be a virtual option because if you want to claim that there is transparency and accessibility, that is a bare minimum necessity. There also needs to be a study on all points of pollution that that could be impacted by these data centers in general environmental impacts water feasibility study and a letter of authorization from the electric service provider are absolutely required and I will keep following up until they are put in place.

Tony Dash is 700 block of New Holland Avenue. For the record thank you for pulling up the solicitor because I did hear him say out there his breath in the back that he wasn't going to answer questions. So I'm glad that he got up here. So. Guys, you're right, there is dangerous misinformation being spread. Unfortunately, this misinformation is being spread by the city using people of high educational status to emulate this idea that everything is impossible, that these are inevitable, that we have no choices. This is what the courts are for. This is why the city has in its zoning ordinance uses not provided for because the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has dictated that uses can't impact their neighbors. That's why we have a process for when they don't have a zoning declaration. We should still ask for a curative amendment, though, because we can't keep ad hoc-ing our zoning ordinance. Our zoning ordinance has been defunct since we passed a comprehensive plan and have yet to do anything with it. It's been over two years. You and I served on planning commission together, Councilor Stolzfus, You and I both share the frustration. We can't keep letting it slide. We need them to do everything. And you have a room full of volunteers here that are eager to work on these zoning changes. We're talking about data centers. We're talking about housing. We're talking about parking minimums. We're talking about what it means to live in an affordable community. We need this curative amendment so we stop passing the buck. Because to Taylor Raymond's point, He left the room. He's had this legislation longer than the last council did. Like 11 minus 6, guys, 5, 6. This has been at this council more than the last one. So shame on you, Councilor Ahmed. Shame on you, Councilor Hirsch. And it seems like public shaming is the only thing we can do to motivate you because we know that the only reason some changes are being put forward is because some people can read the room. And the room's pretty mad right now. We can see how deep the shit that got done we're stepping in is. It's happening all over the state, and Lancaster is a leader in capitulation to not servicing the public and servicing these big tech entities. It's inexcusable.

Good evening.

Hi.

Hi. Bridge Moyer 200 block of West New Street. I'm a clinical social worker and small business owner in Lancaster. I'm specifically a trauma therapist. I tell clients that they can trust me and that's demonstrated in my actions and that's why I'm here today. It's not just me talking because I can talk and I can affirm people all day. I can say some niceties. I've heard some today. That leads folks to harm, like AI therapy, and led folks to death and psychosis. Man, we're talking about vibrations. I'm hearing all these things, anxiety, insomnia. Boy, our world's got plenty of that already. Why are we manufacturing this in our community?

Hire bills now?

People are cutting their time to see me because they can't afford it anymore, and they can't afford their meds. This is bananas. I'm hearing also some challenges with accountability, and I talk a lot about that in my clinical work. These weren't necessarily the choices that you made. Yeah, sure. But these choices, the world you stepped into, like all of us here today, This is your responsibility to clean this mess up. That was the choice that you chose as stewards when we the people entrusted you to be our voices and to act as such. Urgency does not speak to critical thinking and creativity. It is so beyond disappointing that you have left us with this decision on fire. Ensuring quality of Conestoga River, I've received PFOA letters in my mailbox for years How are we ensuring the quality of a water that is already tainted? I do walk and talk sessions. I see the pollution. The math isn't mathing as my Gen Zers that I see would say. I've heard comments about emotions arising from the council people of like us across the room. I can't speak to folks. I wouldn't want to speak to their voices. But what I heard at the root of those emotions were love at the core. love for at the root and love and desire for our legacy what do we want our legacy to be love for our people our city the natural world we are entrusted with taking care of you have more privilege to take care of it than we get to we do it in our ways do it in your ways as well we talked about the rec supporting multi-generations of lancaster community members here I think that's an important thing to kind of tie this. I'm going to leave my, I think it's a quote from a book I'm reading, Relational Mindfulness. I'm going to misquote this. If your dreams end in your lifetime, you're not dreaming big enough. I encourage each council person to dream bigger and act in alignment of the love that can be felt in this room tonight. Thank you.

Thank you. Bill Simonson live in Prospect Heights on Roe Ridge Avenue. Going to make a couple of quick comments. I didn't prepare anything tonight so this may be a little bit of a ramble. First I just want to see say that I was a little bit ashamed to hear the mayor's statement that he can't even mention AI by name in a negative or critical sentence. I thought that was a little disappointing because a lot of us are here because we're fearful of AI and what it may do to our jobs. I work in a call center now after losing my job last year, so I'm afraid. Two, I would say that the power that you have goes beyond the laws that you can write on paper. There's also a symbolic power that you have. And I think this is a very weak amendment. It doesn't have enough strong protections. And I think voting for this amendment tonight is really just a symbolic win for the data centers because clearly the public is here tonight. 70% of Americans are in basic agreement on this issue, and that almost never happens in this country. So, you know, I think we have the time to put some real thought into this. And I said before, let's take them to court. Screw it. I mean, what are we going to do with our tax dollars? Kick another recovery house out of downtown? Or we're going to see more people on benefits? They're already coming on benefits. I mean... So anyway, I'll make it short because I got to go home and watch reruns of the Rockford Files. So thank you.

I've been coming here for like a year. I still don't know how to do this. I live at 67 South Franklin Street. I guess you would say that's 100 block of whatever. Anyways, my same point that I've brought up here always is just how this is going to affect the general population's safety since that seems to be the number one thing of these surveillance centers. You know, what are they surveying? Who are they keeping track of? And we already know all the answers to this stuff. And as far as this amendment goes, it just feels like a rock and a hard place. We already have ones that are being developed and put here. now these rules are you know whatever everyone knows the ins and outs right all i can say is that i'm tired of coming up in here and saying to y'all specifically we don't want your surveillance machines watching us 24 7 nor depleting our fresh water killing our clean air making our kids stupider and ultimately who is it going to affect the most like what's the minority that's going to be affected the most out of all of us is the one leading the charge on this the one that is the president black people are going to be affected negatively by this and no one has said anything about it you know how and we we made a comment earlier about keeping opinions on ai to ourselves but this whole thing changes literally day by day to every evolving system as far as i'm concerned all this is opinion it's an opinion that it's good for the environment it's opinion that it's good for anybody other than the people that are pocketing the money from it which isn't any of us My bills have gone up as a consequence of this. It's like, where is the benefit? You're talking about construction. We could be using that same construction to build more houses for people, better quality of life, anything, like literally anything else. How about we get some free parking up in this city? You know, you were talking about earlier, address things that aren't relevant to this. Parking is another thing, but we're going to make space for a machine rather than the people that, you know, it's just tiring. and i really want to highlight the cowardice earlier of people on this council saying that they weren't here in the last administration regardless we're not going to sit here and act like you haven't been updated on what's going to happen and where it is and for all the nice cities that were said which there was some nice ones i'm glad you guys are expressing more concern than most but frankly this is the most people i've ever seen here so it could just be putting on a show But for real, everyone's tired. Whether the amendment goes through or not, it don't seem like we're really not screwed. We already have them here. We're already getting more with regulations. It's tiring, folks. That's all.

Hi Tony Israel 300 block North Mulberry. I just wanted to reiterate the connection between the events that we've had to spend a lot of money on locally the weather events and the really horrendous heat events and we're gonna have more of it we're having it now but it's gonna be worse tomorrow it's gonna be a hundred degrees we need to stop burning fossil fuels I know that for individuals that's difficult because we don't have the leadership nationally yet. But locally, you guys can lead by putting something in your ordinance that says data centers need to be fueled by renewable energy. And that's very much possible. Otherwise, they're making us here sick. I don't know how many people were nauseated by the heat, but the heat waves are coming faster and faster and more frequently. The storms are coming harder and it's not a coincidence. It's science and it's been known for 40 years. There's a lot of cultural pushback on talking about it. That's fading, 80%. I'm with Citizens Climate Lobby, the local chapter in Lancaster, if anybody wants to join us or other organizations. But locally, we can do a lot. And locally, we need to do a lot. Because sustainability is a word that's lost its meaning. because sustainability the uber sustainability and the uber economy is a stable climate and it affects us locally it's affecting us locally right now and it's making us spend a lot of money it's making us sick and it's making us uncomfortable and i thank you all for the work you do um it's not easy but It's gotta come from the small places and go up, and that's how we're gonna survive. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Israel.

So my Ph.D. is in rhetoric and technical communication. My research actually focuses on city planning language. I want to note that. John Kane- misinformation happens in information environments it's not often unidirectional and it often takes hold when public trust in. John Kane- sources of authority breaks down. John Kane- I. Realize that y'all are probably going to pass this amendment and I'm not here to discourage you from that necessarily. I understand the perspective that we need something in place because we're vulnerable without something. I appreciate your perspectives. on that and I also appreciate your perspective that we need to continue working on it and agree with that to strengthen it in the future. And what I want to encourage is a way to rebuild that trust that is clearly broken down as we've heard throughout the night by formalizing the process that's been mentioned however you can. I'm not sure exactly what the law is like for the zoning review process or anything like that. But you know we've mentioned you know having public feedback on the review process and I want to encourage you to formalize that maybe make an independent citizen review commission to look at the ordinance as you review it moving forward and just be really intentional about getting that feedback and you know put structures put infrastructure into place for that as you go forward. Thank you.

Thank you sir.

Hello my name is Melina Weicker I'm a special education teacher and an English language learners teacher. I have taught in the school district of Lancaster under the umbrella school which is no longer in place due to budget costs. Yeah so a lot of my friends lost their job. But anyways with I just wanted to say like the mayor did say that we should look at the negative consequences and I know some people have mentioned some positive things that come from AI and it has been like 27 years since I've been at one of these meetings it's been like 27 years so it's been a long time so congratulations you got me out of the house that long okay so um but anyways I really would strongly request that you put a pause on this you know just let your conscious and your gut guide you I just don't feel right about any of this. I really don't. Just looking at the negative consequences from AI in general. AI is addictive. I mean, people decorate their homes using AI. They get free therapy. My neighbor across the street gets free therapy, which is kind of scary. But what are the negative consequences? I don't know, but there's like 14 people who are wrongfully arrested and imprisoned because of AI. You know 91 percent. Oh that's high accuracy and data recognition and image recognition. What other things. Well let me see. All of our students are using it now. They're using it on their test. Yes I see it. I've worked at a lot of schools in length in the Lancaster County area and I know how it's affecting A.I. is garbage. OK. It is garbage. I'm a mom, I've got five kids, so it's not just the students that I teach, it's my kids, and it's my future grandkids. And I live in East Peet, which is just basically right over the hill, okay, right over the hill. My family is gonna be affected, okay? And I, you know, I moved here in 94 to Lancaster County, but it's not gonna look like Lancaster County anymore. It's going to look like New Jersey. I mean, no offense, New Jersey. There are some good parts of it. But it's not going to look like Lancaster County. We're not going to feel like it's Lancaster County. People come here because of the farmlands. So we're kind of standing on principle, right? We're kind of standing on the agricultural community, and we want to support that. And AI does not do that, OK? And then some other points I wanted to make were, yeah, I said the accuracy. It's like 40% to 98% accuracy. That's really wide. What kind of business should we stand behind and get behind that has such little accuracy like that? I mean, just, I mean, just Kids who have to take a test you know they have to you know make a certain percentage but like 40 percent is failing. So I don't know who all let this go through because I was too busy being a special education teacher and a single mom. So I didn't know all of this was happened. So I'm so sorry it's the summer and I have a little more time now.

Thank you. Your time has expired. But thank you for your comments.

Oh I just want to say problem solving solar farms. They'll bring in the same tax revenue and be better for the environment.

Thank you.

Ryan, ten hundred block of clay. First, very happy we were leading the way. Good job to all of us showing up. I'm proud of all of you. Never forget we were the capital for a day of this great country. I am not a CPA or a bar certified lawyer. I am a licensed real estate appraiser here in the Commonwealth of PA. We live in a capitalist system and need to understand how real estate taxes work in PA. We need to also understand how the law can be lagging. I mean, think about the legal minimum wage in this state for a second. We need to be forward thinking as well and skate to where the puck will be. I have two kids. This is very important to me. Even if you do not like AI, I want you to know continued investment into it will occur. Do not get emotionally attached to that statement. It's just the fact. My concern is the low labor data center business will not be taxed effectively on their business practice within the city. They do not have the time to explain the capital structure or special purpose vehicles being used to fund the hyperscalers. I think we need to remember we are all on the same side. All of us. We need to fund the schools protect the capital in the city keep it reinvested in the working class protect the working class. What's left of it. Real estate taxes make up 40 percent of the school funding. I'm sure you all got your reappraisal forms in the mail. My phone has been blowing off the hook. If you're a homeowner, it affects you. If you're renting, it affects you. They're resetting the common level ratio on a county level. It's not this board's fault. The city is limited on what they can do, which is why I had my first question. I also am learning. We all need to learn. Keep moving forward. This council has limitations, but we need to get creative, all of us as a team. The data center, to my knowledge, will only be taxed on the value of the land and the structure. The interior components, which is the actual operations of the business, is considered personal property. How can we make modern law to reflect these new types of businesses to protect the working class in any capital flight from Lancaster? I understand how we need to raise funds for the budget, future budgets. Lancaster City has a high share of tax-exempt property. I understand the operations of the data center. Somebody buys it. One company develops it. One company manages it or operates it, and yet another company owns all the personal property within the data center. CoreWeave is listed as the single tenant, the sole tenant. They're a publicly traded company. I suggest you start reading their quarterly reports. Data centers are capital intensive, but not labor-intensive once they're built. Most of the value comes from the servers, chips, power, cooling systems. So the ongoing headcount is usually limited to facility operations, electrical and mechanical maintenance, security, network support and management. I'm only here because I want this recorded for my kids to see in the future. These things will be in space, so you don't burn them, okay? Because it'll make the inequality worse. It's not their fault, you know? If you want to blame them, do it. But you're just part of the problem. If you want to be part of the solution we all need to talk to each other. OK. Republican Democrat anarchists capitalists whatever you are. Get educated.

Christopher Bedusky for you under Crossings Boulevard. So I live just outside the city an apartment called The Crossings. It is, I would argue, probably the closest residential zoned area closest to the location of the Harrisburg data center site. I'm looking through the summary of revisions print here that was given out at the door. And honestly, I do agree with a lot of what's been listed here. I think a lot of these are really good ideas in general, with the exception, I would say, of the last section here, section six. And the idea of if I'm understanding this correctly having these two previously established centers one at Greenfield one at Harrisburg Pike be I'm assuming I'm wrong on this but be exempt from these new revisions I feel like might be a large oversight. You know I see the people that I live with in my apartment complex on the daily got people around my age who are just starting new families with kids some are pregnant. And as well as a lot of older people who are retired and they're just trying to live out their golden years. And I cannot imagine how different or how much more negatively of a lifestyle they would all encounter if they have to deal with the constant hum and droll of a data center and all the potential pollution that might arise as a result of it. Not to mention the fact that it's being built near Longs Park. You know we have the summer music series going on right now every Sunday in the park. It's a wonderful thing to see. We just had a fantastic 4th of July celebration not a couple of weeks ago at the park. I was able to see the whole fireworks and drone performance. It was beautiful. But to have the data center there be potentially exempt from these new regulations and restrictions on the zoning, I feel like just would make everyone's quality of life who lives and works in that area be drastically decreased. So I would like to argue that if it is the case that, These two data centers at Harrisburg and Greenfield are going to be exempt. I would honestly like to have that be reconsidered to have them be incorporated into these standards alongside any potential future data centers to be considered. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. And I would just like to remind you and members of the public that the two existing data centers that are proposed do have many of these same regulations negotiated in the community benefits agreement. Yeah. And the community benefits agreement is available online as well as some other frequently asked questions on the city's website. So I would encourage anybody who is not familiar with that document to go to the city's website.

Hi my name is Connie Fieser and I live on Hickory Drive which is a little dead end that's off Pitney Road and our property there is actually adjacent to the Lancaster HACC campus. So we live less than a mile from the Greenfield Road data center that's going in just to give you a little context. So this is literally in my backyard. I can walk and I drive past it every day and I can walk there in five minutes if I want. So the point that I just want to raise this evening is that I mean I am so grateful to see all of the people here that are advocating for more information and more just good stewardship about the centers. My biggest concern is that these data centers were going in and I didn't even know what they were building. until it was well underway. And then when I found out, I was like, oh, OK, whatever. Like, you know, it's a thing. And the more I started hearing about what impacts there really are, I mean, a lot of individuals are worried about their utility bills, which absolutely all of our expenses living expenses are inflating at a rate that we've never seen and i've lived in my home for 20 years and now i'm actually kind of scared at the physical impacts that are going to affect me on a daily basis i mean we have deer that just graze in our side yard and what is this going to do to the local like small game in the area. Like have any of that even been looked into. I mean I understand that many people may not feel that that's important but like this is just hitting me so close and I had no idea it was coming and that just floors me in this day and age when we have so much information at our fingertips and they're supposed to be so much transparency. with the people that we've put into these positions to steward for us. And it just I'm just at a loss at how we're kind of hearing now that these two that are already in process there's nothing we can do about it. And I didn't even know what was happening. And when I found out I still didn't know what was happening like and I have a college degree. I have a good job and I just it makes me feel like how did I miss this. And I feel like. That shouldn't have been on me. That should have been on the elected officials to let us know what's happening. Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Kaz Bitzer. I live in Leola. So no, I'm not a resident here, but I live about 10 minutes away from where the Greenfield site is being currently constructed. And granted, I live 10 minutes away, which means it's a couple miles away. But it's still only 10 minutes away. And it's going to have far-reaching effects where I live And as you just heard from the lady before me, I'm sorry, I forget her name, but she clearly is not a city resident either. And yet she's already feeling the effects. I know it's going to be a wave that we're going to have to prepare for where I live in Leola. So what I'm wondering is why are we here? I know we've explained. I'm just posing this. Why are we here when all the people, all the public that has shown up from inside the city and the neighbors outside. Why are we here discussing this when you have made it clear that there is nothing you're going to do? And from what I understand, the proposed legislation in Harrisburg would also not apply to these current data centers. And I'm just wondering then why are we here other than, yeah, to put a moratorium, not a moratorium, restrictions on future sites. But I'm also wondering how many data centers are actually gonna want to be here when the two that are already grandfathered in are going to be using all the resources. So isn't this a little saving face? That's what I get from this. And then also, those A lot of construction happened recently for a bunch of luxury apartments right outside the city inside the city and in the Greenfield area. Who's going to move into those because rich people aren't going to want to move into those from New York when they move out from whatever is going on in New York. But everyone's moving out. because all the resources are going to be used up. And the people that can't move out, I feel really bad.

That's my time.

Reconsider.

Hello my name is Karina Rios I live on the 900 block of North Lyme Street. I wasn't sure if I was going to speak today because I'm usually in my own school board meetings on Tuesday nights and I deeply respect the work that you all do. I have not had an easy decision before me since I got on the board in 2019 and I understand that this is a hard decision especially when all the public is here watching you. I have real concerns about data centers being built in my city. I have real concerns about data centers being built near our kids near Conestoga Pines pool park. I was a served as a board member as well on the Lancaster rec board. There are so many beautiful things that happen in those parks. So many memories that are made friendships that are made. I have a lot of concerns for our environment going forward. Putting forward an amendment that is iterative sounds great. A process that continues. Yes I want that. What do we have to hold you all to that or to hold these companies to continue to be in conversation with you. This is my concern about the state conversation around data centers as well and what our governor, Josh Shapiro, is proposing. What do we have in place to hold these companies accountable to what we're asking them to do? Not demanding of them because we're signing leases, we're allowing them to build on the land. We're not demanding anything of them. We're just saying, hey, please, would you play nice with us? They're not going to play nice. So I hope that you're all ready to roll up your sleeves and be in Harrisburg with me, to be in the federal government as well, calling everyone on top of all the work you all do here. It's stressful. Billionaires do not care about our environment. They've shown that time and again. Otherwise, I mean, look what the coal mine cities are dealing with. That was another boom. Oh, everybody needed to get into the gold rush. How'd that turn out for those towns? We have a lot of history about that right here in Pennsylvania. How'd that turn out for those communities? Not great. So I just ask you to please be in conversation with your community yes but also how are we going to hold them accountable really think about that before you vote for this tonight and also if you do how are we going to hold our own administration accountable to the things that they're saying because it does come from a lack of leadership that we get to a point where we have a decision in front of us that we can't walk away from as a board or a council. Thank you for your time.

I'm gonna share from just a little bit different perspective tonight.

Sir, please, your name and block of residence.

Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Vance Stewart. I'm from Littus, Pennsylvania, okay? I've learned more in the past six years of my life than I have in my entire life with all this stuff that's hit us, okay? I spent 18 years on the road doing about 2.3 million miles all over America and all over Canada. Been through the borders many times, passports the whole nine yards. Just going to talk about surveillance over the years. Had cameras put into my bus. Had electronic logs put into my bus. Had a notice from the DOT that if I got a DUI, I would lose my job forever. and never have a CDL again. Cameras have been in existence. The Jason Bourne movies really showed us what was going on with cameras around the world and how quickly they could spot us. The cameras on the highways, even in Washington, D.C., just on the Mall, from the Capitol down to the Lincoln Memorial, between Constitution and Independence, 125 cameras were taking pictures of license plates and sending pictures out, or sending tickets out, okay? Now, I don't know the name, but some guys from MIT have just put a new camera system together. It's called the Frogger or something of that nature. It's open on three different interstates right now. It's doing surveillance, OK? The turnpike, you look at all those new tires that are being built and you go through there, my gosh, they're supposed to be monitoring your eyes, your heat, whether or not your passengers in the vehicles have seat belts on, the whole nine yards, okay? And the last thought I wanted to share just went out of my mind. Oh, no. Oh, how many own Ford products in here? ford ford trucks cars do you know what ford is proposing for 2027 than their new model It is an AI vehicle. There are going to be AI vehicles rolling all over. Why in the world do we need a surveillance center? You put your hands on the wheel, oh my god, it's taking your fingerprints. The cops are going to stop you if you have a warrant. It's going to monitor your system. If you have an argument with your wife, it's going to show up that you're, ooh, fired up, and it's going to stop your vehicle. If you're falling asleep, it's going to stop your vehicle. So you've got a Ford truck coming out in 2027. Unbelievable. AI with all the surveillance that we have and what this does right here and what our TVs do at home as far as taking pictures of us in our house, what those little round robots do running around our living rooms. It's atrocious. For you guys making a decision, there's no reason for AI. We've been around for 250 years. Why in the world do they want to take and do surveillance on us other than just treat us like underlings? Thank you.

Hello my name is Bridget Erickson I live on the 400 block of Ruby Street. I like many people here strongly oppose the data centers coming in our area and I appreciate you guys doing everything you can to prevent more of them coming in. I really hope that you continue to take strong steps to protect the city that I love and live in. I chose to come here I'm a transplant and I would like to stay. But I think all the calls for civility are kind of missing the fact that this has been a very civil gathering because even though people are angry they are controlling themselves and the best way to keep that is to continue to hear them and to do everything you can to protect what they're asking for. Thank you.

My name is Chelsea Graham I'm from 723 East Orange. I was here a couple of weeks ago for the planning commission meeting about this with Tony and Frank Taylor few other people. I am so grateful that everybody and can we just get a raise of hands for who just doesn't want the data center just just for the record. OK. All right. I was here and you know this data center company is here and they put up their rendering on the board and you know that's their site plan. Right. And I got up and I just you know I'm very late to the game so I asked them a couple of questions about All right, well, if you already got basically the go ahead to do this, what kind of green initiatives are you doing? I've been an interior designer for 13 years, very familiar with how companies greenwash and try to make things look like they're more sustainable than they are. Do it all the time. They put little like leafs on the back of your Ford like that means anything. And by the way, You know this guy over here he says like the closed loop cooling system it's just like a car. Cars are bad for the environment. They literally use coolant forever chemicals to keep the car cool. That's not good. And just imagine that on a greater scale when I ask them What kind of initiatives. Oh they're planning I don't know like 200 trees around the perimeter to hide it from public view. Okay great. You planted some trees. That's that's that's almost almost better than the 17 bike racks they're putting on the property. They bragged about that. Who's got a bike to work down Route 30 to go to the data center job when it's 100 degrees right now like. This is and that was that was it. And I asked them how many people do you plan to employ here. And they took a long time trying to answer that question but they came up with the number 146. And I looked at their plan and I'm like well why do you have twice the amount of parking spaces over 300 parking spaces for 150 employees. because that was what was required by who. Well what is that. I mean heat island effect. This is why it is so hot outside. Anybody else walk here today. That's why I'm sitting over here because I probably reek. I think we're all pretty sick of you know just being told like this is going to be fine. OK. We all know it's not going to be fine. I think there is a community down in Virginia that just got completely flooded out by a data center that their whole plumbing system ruptured, whole neighborhood completely flooded. You can look it up. So, I mean, when I came to this meeting too, one more thing, sorry, real quick.

Thank you, ma'am, yeah, please.

One more thing, I'll keep it quick. When I was asking these questions this table I was interrupted by I think Mr. Whalen on the council and he said usually this is for public comment not for questioning. That is what you guys should be doing is questioning is asking questions. Thank you. Thank you.

My name is Coral Wrights. I live in Marietta. I work in a restaurant in Lancaster. And what happens in Lancaster City impacts not only my job, but also what happens in Colombia right down the street from where I live. I first want to acknowledge that the previous council has conditioned me to understand that you're all going to vote yes regardless of what we say because you've already made that clear. So instead I'm going to choose to speak first directly to President Ahmed. I want to comment on your audacity to shame publicly the new council members when they actually seemed like they did some research which is more than I can say about anything you've ever said. and the fact that they did research to try to clean up the mess that you are part of creating. So I want you to take one moment and just reflect on your own self before you criticize anybody else. Because what we criticize other people for is probably something we need to look at ourselves for. You are the president now. So step up your leadership and actually lead because you did not do what you needed to do the last time around. And I'm putting all my energy into you because I'm going to give the new people a chance to actually build trust by taking action. But you've had a chance and you did not build trust you destroyed it. So before you criticize other council members for trying to build trust.

Look inside. Thank you.

Thank you. My name is Oscar Rhodes and I live in Chester County and I work in Lancaster County. And so why am I here is because all the previous things mentioned about the environment and I am a community member in Lancaster County. I am here very frequently. I frequent restaurants. I pay for parking. A lot of the time I cannot walk here. So when these resources are destroyed by data centers, it is going to impact not only the people locally, but anyone who likes to visit here, who loves Lancaster County. And you will lose, as well as all those resources, housing, whatever, people coming in, to live and to go to local businesses, coffee shops, all those other things. And I think that's it because it's my bedtime soon. So thank you for your time.

Good evening. My name is Christina and I live on old Philadelphia Pike. And I just I want to thank everybody for being here tonight to give their voices to what they care about. And right now I think as of now everybody in this room is still real people. We're not AI people and we want to keep it that way. And what doesn't make sense to me is that Why would the council want to move something forward that impacts us so greatly when they're still real people themselves and they live in this environment. It affects them as people as well. But my biggest thing that I want to say here tonight is have we forgotten the power of we the people when we all stand together as one. Let's stand together because we have more power than we know. So thank you for being here. Thank you.

good evening i do want to thank all of you for being here i know you do not have an easy job i understand this amendment is something that needs if you could please uh your name and block of record jessica 500 block of north thank you sorry i hate speaking um but the woman a few people in front of me said something that i wanted to say because I don't think that the new council members were being cowards by saying they weren't here when this all went through. And somebody else like I'm a very busy person. I own a small business. I have three daughters. I have a granddaughter. I have lived in Lancaster County my entire life. I have lived in Lancaster City since my oldest daughter was in first grade. She is now a special ed teacher at McCaskey. I am invested. My children are invested. My granddaughter. hopefully has Longs Park, hopefully has Conestoga Pines. So I am also appalled that you would shame these other new members by stating they weren't here when, I don't know who was here. I'm glad I do know who was here. I did vote for you, President Ahmed. I am confused. Like, no, it is not my job to, know everything that's going on around me all the time but there we should not have been blindsided by this. This is nuts. I don't understand. I appreciate the transparency we have now. I hope that you pass this and you actually do keep doing the things you're supposed to do but how do we hold you accountable is my question. So I'll wrap it up. It's super late. We all want to go home. Thank you.

Please.

Hi I'm Molly Swartz from 400 block of Mary Street. I just wanted to say something about. Well I appreciate that there are council members that were not around. I know that you are coming to this situation with fresh new eyes and that's great. Please try to remember that the people in this room like their consent was violated. Nobody told us what was going on. And then when when we were finally told about it we were treated as though We were overreacting or being silly and this is the future and we have to accept it. It really did a lot to erode the trust between the citizens and the council. I was here a year ago when we were starting when we had another meeting or a previous meeting about the data centers and the zoning. And I think one of the things that we really missed out on was a form of accountability. What do you guys need? Like, do you need a group of citizens to start a focus group or a commission that you speak to about making this happen faster? Because if If we all have to make this happen faster, if the world is on fire and we don't have any more time, then we have so many brilliant people in this county that you could ask for help and that would be willing to donate their time to make sure that we have strong language to protect us in the future. So if that's what you need I I'm really upset that we didn't that this didn't happen sooner if like now we have we don't have any time left to make choices or fix amendments. Yeah I guess also I just want to say one thing about some of the stuff that the solicitor was saying. You know, if this is unprecedented, then why are we putting limits on what the possibility is for what we can do to stop this from happening in the future and to stop what's happening already? You know, nobody knows what would happen if we decided to start fighting. And I think everybody in this room is showing up because we want you to fight harder. We want somebody to come in and say, hey... I'm going to do everything I can to make this not be a thing in the future and to walk some of this stuff back. And also, one thought I had was just, I'd like to know what kind of protections you're going to put forward for all the people that are going to have to protest these upcoming data centers and, like, chain their bodies to construction vehicles. Like, are you going to... You know, that's free speech. So are we just going to turn this into a fight with the Supreme Court and the federal system?

Thank you, ma'am. Your three minutes have expired. Thank you. Thank you.

Alejandra, Newtown Court. So what is the purpose of the law? Why are laws created? To protect the people. And you just say, well, the two that already passed, Fuck you, screw you, sorry. You screwed. We're just going to protect those two people, those two companies, and you no matter. But what is the purpose of law? Law was created to protect the people. This has to be something for this grandfathering that was done for these two data centers to now comply with what is needed. Because you're going to pass anyway. You don't care about us. You don't care about us, the people. But if you're going to pass it, just do something for those two companies that already are. Because you have to protect us. We elect you. You're us. You have to protect your kids, too. Because it's not only us. It's your family. Your whole family is going to be affected if you don't put those rules in place. And don't tell me, oh, no, it's not sunny. Let's change. You have to be the welfare of the people.

Thank you.

Heidi Wenger 900 block of East Fulton and I am very tired. I am tired because I was woken up at 5 a.m. with the crazy police loudspeakers and ear piercing sirens. Found out later that my neighbor and her children were being threatened all that night. Luckily they're OK. Last night I had a fellow Lancastrian friend call me suicidal. There's a lot going on in the city and these data centers are kind of like the last straw. I taught in the school district of Lancaster for years. I have poured time and energy into keeping our property nice. I want to love Lancaster but I'm struggling and I want the property I have to be valuable and support me when I retire. If I age in place whatever I just feel like once the status and our fires up a mile and a half away the property value will plummet. Also the land that the Greenfield Center is on was the farmland of my ancestors. My grandfather was born in what is now the old Greenfield Inn. All that area I even grew up on Greenfield Road myself. I could say more about that but I'm going to move on. And I'm going to use some words that I heard from someone else across PA and other states communities are hunted like real estate on a spreadsheet. Politicians are courted. The processes are rushed. The impacts are hidden. We are anti corruption anti secrecy anti sacrifice zone. Lawmakers went to work for private companies whispering their deals. They want working people to pay the price. They want working people to pay the price and suffer while they cash the checks. We're here to ask for what should have already been done. A real moratorium. Pennsylvania belongs to the people not to big tech. Thank you.

I'll be brief. Conventional wisdom by our solicitors indicates that we will probably lose in court. I think that if we have this much of a chance This much of a chance to stop what's happening in the two sites, we need to take that chance. I think we'll all feel better about ourselves if we do at least fight. That's what the courts are for. And maybe we have to go outside and find different solicitors. Maybe somebody else has succeeded. But I think most of us in this room would love you to take some funding to support that fight. Thank you.

Hello my name is Mick. I live out on Columbia Ave. Couple of things. My main personal concern with these data centers is the noise pollution. I lived on a ship for far too long consecutively and had real serious tinnitus issues for years after that I could have been hospitalized for probably should have been. But so being told that the noise coming from data centers is going to be not much less than Route 30 and then going to catch the sunrise over Columbia and the river and not being able to hear the birds over Route 30. really sucks to think of that doubled and really not be able to hear anything over what I already hear all the time. And my second thing that I haven't heard addressed yet was what is the timeline if we pass this and then to. come back and try to build like stronger protections against data centers. Like I heard two years if we don't do that or something like how much sooner can we get it done if we are passing this tonight if this is quote unquote our best option. How soon can we come back and revisit things if we are getting ourselves protected now. Like how quickly can we protect ourselves again sort of thing like that's what I guess is my main concern. If you guys are going to pass this no matter what how quickly can we get back to do a better job than what you've come up with so far. That's my question.

Any final public comment as the public comment period is going to be ended. This will be our last public comment. Yes sir.

Mike Welch I'm on the 500 block of St. Joseph Street. My wife and I traveled for three years in a van and experienced a lot of the country about 10 times around now. We moved to Lancaster three years ago because we love it and it's amazing we moved here because we had the longest running farmers market in the United States. We moved here because there's beautiful farmland 10 minutes outside of the city where I live and walk everywhere. We moved here because it's an amazing place to live and then the mayor signed an NDA and probably you and I don't know about you, but the new people didn't sign NDAs, did you? None of you new guys signed NDAs, but the old people did and that's why they're all gone now. Also, the old mayor signed an NDA, non-disclosure agreement. That means, can you talk about data centers and that old thing that you already said has already gone through so we can't do anything about it? Because I'd love to hear why that was passed. Let's hear it. That would really be my comment. Would you like to finish for three minutes, sir? Yeah. Totally, yeah, I would. So data centers. I used to work for a tech company called Veritas. We did disaster recovery for Fortune 500 companies. And we were the third largest software company in the world. And now that company is gone because they liquidated all of the assets. And that's what they're going to do to the water. And that's what they're going to do to all of our good soil that we're going to use to maybe not be able to grow our food anymore. They're going to liquidate our assets. That's what they do. And in 10 years, those data centers are going to be corpses, because that technology is going to be garbage. So you guys are voting to open this thing that's going to be this massive, ugly piece of crap that doesn't look like Lancaster. And it's going to make all of the animals run away, and all the people are going to leave. And it's going to be really jacked up. And I think there's not anybody in the hallway yet, but there was like people like spilled into the hallway. And you guys are calling for decorum. They should have been yelling at you out there because they're not in the chamber. But if I was standing out there still, I would have been yelling by now. That's my three minutes.

Thank you, sir. Just to clarify, I did not sign any NDA myself. Nor did I. Myself and Vice President Hirsch were not involved in the zoning approval of the first two data centers. We were involved in the CBA, which did provide protections where there were not any. and uh in closing the public comment i would just like once again like to thank everybody here in the room um you know i think that lancaster city provides a venue for our state representative to come speak about what's going on to hear from our residents and neighbors about their concerns and for council to voice how we can be better in the future i thank the city for their commitment to making this stronger in the future I thank my fellow councillors for the many conversations we've had on how we're going to hold them accountable to that. And to my fellow councillors, as your president, I hope you all know my leadership. We talk daily, especially the new members. And my comments were that we are going to be voting on stuff that a lot of us did not inherit. We did not inherit the deferred maintenance on our water. but we are elected to lead and act on it. So those were the comments, and I know that you guys all know that, but I thought that I would give you the respect to answer some of those allegations that were made against me. So with that, I will allow any final council comments before we take the vote. Mr. Stolzfus.

Council President, if I may. So there's some questions around, I think what I was proposing and what other councilors were proposing is we feel like this is the best that we have in place right now, moving forward to approve it, but continuing to work with staff. So, you know, I am the chair of the community planning committee. My email address is a stole to set city of Lancaster pa.gov. I, you can hold me accountable. I mean, I think the challenge here is, you know, I don't control staff, you know, that's the mayor's job. So, you know, I think we have a commitment from staff to continue working on this. I would love to see us come back, you know, within this calendar year. with some revisions and I know that might sound like a long time to folks, but I do also wanna make sure to some of the points that we are able to get more input and that we have more ownership over these regulations. So that's something that I'm committing myself to, but again, I don't have staff who work for me. We all do this part time. um so i i can only offer you know me as uh someone that uh can try to hold this process accountable uh you are welcome to to email me uh you know i try to be as as responsive as i can uh so that's the that's the best that i can offer um but i do think we have a commitment from staff we have a commitment from council we've heard you know loud and clear uh that we more work to do uh and i look forward to doing that work with all of you thanks thank you mr stahlsfus

Yeah, Council President, I'll just briefly mirror those remarks. My Miller, I'm sorry, my email is nmiller at cityoflancasterpa.gov. I serve on community planning under Councilor Stoltzfus. Please feel free to reach out to me. I've heard you all. I appreciate you taking the time. It's been a long day, and we're really going to consider this and keep pushing, so thank you.

Mr. Harris, will you please call the questions? Yes, Mr. President. Ms. Gassman, no.

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones.

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch? Aye. Ms. Michon? Aye. Mr. Miller? Aye. Mr. Stossfus? Aye. And President Metz?

Aye. Thank you. If folks would like to excuse themselves or feel free to stay for the rest of the meeting, it is your time. But we do have other legislative items on our agenda. We'll give folks just a few minutes for those who do want to excuse themselves. And with that, we will continue our legislative agenda. The next item on our agenda is ordinances for first reading, Administrative Bill 10, 2026. Mr. Harris.

Yes, Mr. President. An ordinance increasing the indebtedness of the City of Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, by the issue of a guaranteed water revenue note in the maximum principal amount of 63 million 380 000 for construction of various structures and facilities to improve the city's water system fixing the form dates interest and maturity thereof making a covering for the payment of the debt service on the note providing for the filing of the required documentation with the department of community and economic development to incur and exclude additional debt of the governmental unit providing for the appointment of a sinking fund depository for the note providing for the authorized signatories and authorizing execution sale and delivery thereof

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

Once again, this is a first reading. Vice President Harris is coming through the Finance Committee. Yes, thank you, Council President. Councilors, as you know, we've talked about this project at length. This ordinance prepares us to accept the final PennVest loan, which was revised up to the 63, roughly $63.4 million, with the addition of the additional $15 million Million in interim financing that was approved at our meeting on June 23rd The PEM vest board will vote on our revised loan amount at their meeting tomorrow July 15th Should that be approved? We will be then ready to finally accept the full PEM vest financing at our council meeting later this month on July 28th Thank you, and I just want to thank the city staff for moving this project along very important are there any council comments on the first reading I

Any comments from the public? All right, hearing none, we will move on to resolutions. We already did go over resolutions 64, 65, and 66 at the beginning of the meeting. Those were going over appointments to boards, commissions, and authorities. Next, we will take administrative resolution number 68.

Mr. Harris. A resolution of the Council of the City of Lancaster approving the adoption of an amendment to the Act 537 Official Sewage Facilities Plan for the City of Lancaster. Motion to approve.

Second.

Councilors, we have a motion and a second. Councilor Miller, well, my apologies, Councilor Stoltzfus, this is coming through community planning.

Yes, I don't have a lot to add to this. Councilors, you have a brief about this project in your packet. It is exciting to be adding new housing units near downtown. And whenever we have a new development, we are required to pass a resolution to add that development to our official sewage facilities plans. That's what we're doing tonight.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Stolzfus. Any further comments from council? from the public.

Hearing none, Mr. Harris. Ms. Gastineau.

Aye.

Ms. Highland-Jones. Aye. Mr. Hirsch. Aye. Ms. Majon.

Aye.

Mr. Miller. Aye. Mr. Stoltzfus. Aye. And President Med.

Aye. Next, we will take up administrative resolution number 69, and Mr. Hirsch, if you would please read that into the record.

A resolution of the Council of the City of Lancaster approving an easement agreement between the City of Lancaster, City, and the Hamilton Club of Lancaster, Hamilton Club, granting an easement to the Hamilton Club for an encroachment into the public right-of-way over East Orange Street for an accessible entrance ramp and door overhang.

Motion to approve. Second.

Thank you, Councillors. Councillor Miller, anything else to add on this?

No council presidents is pretty straightforward. It's just allowing them to build into the public right-of-way to install an accessible entrance ramp So I think it pretty much covered in the title.

Thank you Yes, I just wanted to add that we did ask at our committee meeting that they were taking the least amount of Eastman into the public right-of-way as possible so that they can not impede any more of the sidewalk then it's already and it already is done in some areas and

Thank you, and this will allow them to allow their members and guests to enter in a dignified way while using ADA requirements. Anything from the public?

Hearing none, Mr. Harris. Ms. Gastineau?

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones?

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch? Aye. Ms. Mijon?

Aye.

Mr. Miller? Aye. Mr. Stahl-Swiss? Aye. And President Metz?

Aye.

Lastly, we have administrative resolution number 70. Mr. Harris.

A resolution of the Council of the City of Lancaster authorizing the filing of an application for funding through the Commonwealth Financing Authority Multimodal Transportation Fund Program in the amount not to exceed $500,000.

Motion to approve. Second. Councillors, we have a motion and a second. Anything else to add, Councillor Miller?

This is pretty straightforward as well. This is just certifying, allowing the city to apply for a grant to connect this project with the eastern portion of a bike path that traverses the city and connects to trails in neighboring townships. So it's a great project and it's just giving them permission to apply for funding to get it off the ground.

Thank you, Councillor Miller. Excited to see this coming to fruition. Anything else from council? From the public?

Hearing none, Mr. Harris? Ms. Castano?

Aye.

Ms. Holland-Jones?

Aye.

Mr. Hirsch? Aye. Ms. Majon?

Aye.

Mr. Miller? Aye. Mr. Stoltzfus? Aye. And President Metz? Aye.

That concludes our legislative agenda, brings us to the report of the mayor. Mayor Arroyo is not here this evening. He has already given his remarks that were read by Chief of Staff Bakay during our legislative agenda. So that brings us to the report of President of Council. I will be brief, but I did want to thank Councilor Holland-Jones, who will now also be the council representative for Department of Neighborhood Engagement, as well as personnel. So I want to thank you for taking that up, Councilor Holland-Jones. And with that, we will take it to any council comments. Hearing none, I will hear a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Second.

All in favor?