HCI DP Land Acquisition Data Center, South Hanover Township, Pennsylvania

HCI DP Land Acquisition LLC, a Texas-based developer, has asked South Hanover Township in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, to allow a data center campus on about 250 acres of the former Pennsy Supply quarry off Wagner Street, near Hummelstown. The township's Zoning Hearing Board scheduled hearings on HCI's two data center requests for August 17, 2026. A residents' group, Protect South Hanover, reports that both hearings have since been postponed indefinitely at HCI's request.

The quarry tract, in the township's industrial park along the Swatara Creek near Derry Township and Hummelstown, would hold two data centers of 401,800 and 195,000 square feet and a substation. HCI had earlier sought to build distribution warehouses there and withdrew that plan in favor of the data center. Its first application asks for a special exception, arguing that the township's zoning neither permits nor prohibits data centers, so the use is "not provided for." Its second is a substantive validity challenge claiming the township's zoning illegally excludes data centers, and it says HCI is the equitable owner of 12 parcels totaling 496 acres. The residents' group says the extra land includes farmland and residentially zoned parcels.

Residents have said they felt "blindsided" by the switch from warehouses to data centers. More than 100 people turned out for a special supervisors' meeting in early July 2026, and neighbors including the Milton Hershey School Trust raised water, the electric grid, noise, light and pollution. "While we understand the township has to provide for data centers," said Joe McMullan, director of real estate for the Milton Hershey School and its trusts, "we want to make sure the community understands the devil's in the details". Protect South Hanover says a June 8 noise study HCI submitted modeled a layout of eight data center buildings across the draft overlay area, including residential parcels, though that plan has not been filed as an application.

Hummelstown Borough, which borders the site, says it is ready to support the township in defeating HCI's requests before the Zoning Hearing Board and has reserved the right to intervene. Nearby East Hanover Township scheduled a hearing and vote on August 18, 2026 on its own zoning rules for data centers and battery storage.

South Hanover's supervisors are writing their own rules. In early July they voted unanimously to advertise an ordinance creating a data center overlay district, with data centers allowed only as a conditional use, kept at least 400 feet from residentially zoned property, capped at 55 feet tall, and required to submit sound reports and prove sufficient water. "Good zoning is proactive, not reactive," Supervisor Kevin Busher said. Residents asked for larger setbacks, lower heights and the removal of non-industrial parcels from the overlay.

The South Hanover Township Zoning Hearing Board rules on HCI's special exception and validity challenge, and the five-member Board of Supervisors decides the ordinance after a public hearing.