Is the battery offer for your land tied to a data center?

Get a plain description of the whole project

This guide concerns Forks Township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. If a company approaches you about batteries, ask what else must be built or operating for its proposal to work. A battery site that supplies a nearby data center raises different questions from a facility that charges from and discharges to the grid independently.

Ask for a drawing showing the battery area, any host building, roads, cables, cooling equipment and water facilities. Identify which parts would occupy your land and which would be on someone else’s property. The fence around the batteries may cover only part of the land the company needs.

Then ask who owns each part and which company would sign your agreement. If the battery operator and data-center owner are different companies, establish who can approve changes, make payments and arrange removal. A reference to the overall project does not identify the party that owes you money.

For a proposal that depends on a future host facility, ask what happens to your reserved land if that facility is delayed, redesigned or abandoned. Agree on paid reservation periods, decision dates and release of land that is no longer needed.

Read the adopted amendments with the code

The township’s online code lists adopted laws that have not yet been incorporated into the consolidated text. Relevant records include Ordinance 414, adopted April 2, 2026; Ordinance 416, adopted June 18, 2026; and Ordinance 415, adopted July 2, 2026. Reading an older use-table entry alone can miss later requirements.

The consolidated data-center provisions address batteries storing energy for use onsite or offsite and require battery-specific fire protection. They also treat energy generation supplying a data center during normal operation as a separate use. These provisions do not establish a permit route for every independent battery facility.

Ordinance 414 addresses solar and wind uses, including storage cells within its solar provisions. Its solar-farm acreage limits should not be presented as the acreage requirement for a standalone battery project. Ask the township to classify the actual proposal rather than borrowing the most convenient rule from another use.

Ordinance 415 includes updated base-zoning and growth-management maps. Have the reviewing office confirm your parcel’s district, applicable overlays and review process using the current records. This guide does not establish that any particular parcel is eligible or that a connection has available capacity.

Reference: Forks Township use regulations: data centers and energy systems · Adopted Ordinance 414, April 2, 2026: solar and wind uses · Adopted Ordinance 415, July 2, 2026: zoning and growth-management maps · Adopted Ordinance 416, June 18, 2026: data-center duties

The cleanup obligation may cover more than batteries

Ordinance 416 adds decommissioning requirements for data centers. It addresses restoring the site or preparing it for beneficial reuse, including removal of equipment and structures that are no longer used and cannot reasonably be reused. The examples include servers, cooling equipment and containment ponds.

If your battery offer is part of that development, ask how the cleanup plan treats the entire facility and your portion of the property. Who removes shared cables, foundations, roads or drainage works? Which improvements may remain, and who determines that they can be reused?

The ordinance requires a decommissioning agreement between the township and facility owner before data-center construction. Your private lease is another document. Have your advisers compare both with the approved plan so the company’s promise to you matches what must actually be done.

Ask for a clear explanation of the removal triggers and timetable. The adopted text includes end-of-project and inactivity language, along with an alternative-use phrase that needs careful interpretation. Get that interpretation from the reviewing office and your advisers before using it to set lease deadlines.

Reference: Adopted Ordinance 416, June 18, 2026: data-center duties

What if the company does not finish removal?

The adopted amendment says that if the facility owner or operator fails to complete decommissioning within the required period, the landowner must complete it within six months. That is a specific reason to examine a data-center-related land offer closely; it is not a statement that every independent battery project in the township has the same requirement.

Ask who would arrange the work and pay if the operator stopped responding. Have your advisers examine whether the lease gives you usable remedies, access to the necessary records and an enforceable claim against the responsible company. A promise from a project company may offer little practical help if that company has no resources.

If you own only one part of a larger site, ask how the township’s agreement identifies the landowner and divides responsibilities. Do not assume that the size of the battery lease limits the cleanup obligation to that footprint.

The ordinance also describes municipal action if neither the operator nor landowner completes removal, with entry-consent and escrow provisions. Understand which land and successors the submitted land agreement would cover before it is signed or provided to the township.

Reference: Adopted Ordinance 416, June 18, 2026: data-center duties

Ask to see the funding and its renewal terms

Ordinance 416 calls for decommissioning cost estimates and updated estimates every two years. Its funding language refers to net costs and also sets a floor of 125 percent of total decommissioning costs. Have the township and your advisers confirm how the required amount is calculated and maintained for the actual project.

The amendment allows forms of financial assurance acceptable to the municipality. Ask what instrument is proposed, who holds it, when it expires and who can draw on it. Do not treat a bond, letter of credit and corporate guarantee as interchangeable protection.

Your adviser should also check whether the public security protects your private restoration expectations. For example, you may want a field returned to cultivation or a shared road kept usable during removal. Identify any gap between those expectations and the work covered by the township’s agreement.

Agree on how you receive evidence of continuing security and notice of changes. If a replacement instrument is needed, establish when it must be in place. Equipment becoming older or less valuable is not a reason to leave removal funding unanswered.

Reference: Adopted Ordinance 416, June 18, 2026: data-center duties

Keep host-facility duties with the responsible operator

The data-center provisions require a professionally prepared emergency plan, fire and emergency-service review, suitable emergency access, responder training and annual fire-safety inspections. The battery provision calls for compliance with NFPA 855 or similar standards and fire suppression designed for battery storage.

Ask which company supplies the trained staff, maintains access and updates contacts. If responders would use your entrance or shared road, work out how gates, deliveries and your own access fit the approved plan. Owning the land should not leave you guessing how to respond to an equipment incident.

Ordinance 416 also adds data-center water-review requirements involving the Delaware River Basin Commission and wastewater approvals. For a combined proposal, ask where water and wastewater facilities would go and whether they affect land or rights outside the battery area. These host requirements do not prove an independent battery proposal needs the same infrastructure.

The amendment says an acquiring party must adhere to the original monetary and operational decommissioning requirements when the facility is sold or transferred. Before accepting an operator change, ask for the incoming company’s contacts and evidence that required security and other continuing duties remain in place.

Reference: Forks Township use regulations: data centers and energy systems · Adopted Ordinance 416, June 18, 2026: data-center duties

Tell us about your Forks Township property

Start with your name, email and phone in the form, then enter the property location. Pennsylvania and Northampton County are editable starting selections. Acreage and a parcel number are optional.

If you have received a proposal, mention whether it includes a data center, solar panels or only batteries. Include questions about shared land, cleanup duties or a company asking you to sign a township agreement. You do not need a complete development plan to inquire.

Sunland can review your information and may follow up. An inquiry does not grant land rights, authorize a filing or commit you to a project. Any opportunity still requires its own property, permitting, connection and commercial review.