Last updated: October 22, 2026

Data Center Community Benefit Agreements, Explained for Landowners

A community benefit agreement (CBA) is a contract in which a data center developer promises a town or county money and operating limits beyond what the zoning code requires, usually as part of winning local approval. In 2025 and 2026, several large ones were made public, and at least one now runs past $100 million. If you’re selling or leasing land to a developer, a CBA won’t usually have your signature on it. It can still shape whether the project gets approved, how long the approval takes, how much of your parcel ends up usable, and what obligations follow the land.

⚡ TL;DR — Community Benefit Agreements

• What it is: a negotiated contract between a developer and a local government covering payments, operating limits, and community commitments
• Real examples: Lancaster, PA (two $10M funds, Nov. 2025); Barber County, KS ($5.5M plus full property taxes, Aug. 2026); Swatara Township, PA ($120.3M across two campuses, Oct. 2026)
• Common terms: milestone payments, water caps, noise limits at nearby homes, buffers, generator-testing hours, road security, emergency-response reimbursement, decommissioning
• Why it matters to you: approval timing, setbacks that eat usable acreage, and clauses that can bind later owners
• What to do: ask how the developer plans to handle community terms, and have counsel review anything that could run with land you keep

Why Developers Are Signing These Now

The short version is local leverage. As we covered in our guide to data center moratoriums and local opposition, 2026 brought a run of county and city votes pausing or rejecting projects over noise, water, visual impact, and who pays for grid upgrades. A CBA is one way a developer answers those concerns in writing, with money and enforceable limits, rather than through promises at a hearing.

From a local government’s side, a CBA can cover things a zoning ordinance can’t easily reach, such as cash contributions to a named fund, a schedule of payments tied to construction, a promise to reimburse emergency-response costs, or a commitment to report clean-energy use to the council each year. The agreement sits alongside the land-development approvals, not in place of them.

Three Real Agreements, Side by Side

These are drawn from documents the municipalities themselves published. They aren’t a benchmark for what any other project will offer. Each deal reflects its own site, its own politics, and the size of the campus.

Jurisdiction	Money	Notable non-cash terms
City of Lancaster, PA Lancaster AI Hub (Nov. 2025 summary)	$10M each to an Economic Development Fund and a Sustainable Development and Clean Energy Fund, paid in $2.5M increments at construction financing and within 30 days of operations, phased per building; $250K up front for a strategic plan	Water capped at 20,000 gal/day per campus; operating noise no higher than existing ambient at nearby homes and parks; 100-ft buffers on streets and residential/park edges; daytime-only generator testing; 100% clean-energy electricity; letter of credit; obligations pass to a new owner
Barber County, KS Google, Project Helium (Aug. 31, 2026)	$5.5M in community benefit payments from 2026 through 2029, plus 100% of ad valorem property taxes with no abatement	Closed-loop air-cooled design; no new water wells on the property; developer pays water and wastewater upgrades; road inventories before and after construction plus $5M road security; decommissioning at end of operations; local hiring and vendor efforts
Swatara Township, PA Highlands West and East (Oct. 8, 2026)	$120.3M combined ($84.15M West, $36.15M East), separate from ordinary taxes; later payments triggered by earthwork, first foundations, and first and final certificates of occupancy ($33.6M at each CO milestone)	Funds directed to public-safety facilities, infrastructure, fire apparatus, workforce, and scholarships; agreements subject to final, unappealable approval of the land-development plans

Swatara Township’s release also says its commitment appears to exceed a $110 million agreement tied to the Frederick Digital Campus in Maryland, which had been publicly described as the largest U.S. data center CBA. That’s the township’s characterization. We haven’t reviewed the Maryland agreement itself.

What Typically Goes Into a Data Center CBA

Payments and milestones

Cash into a named fund or the general budget, often in tranches tied to financing, earthwork, foundations, or certificates of occupancy. Milestone payments mean the town is paid only if the project actually gets built.

Water

Daily caps, closed-loop or air-cooled designs, bans on new wells, and developer-paid utility upgrades. Lancaster's cap and Barber County's no-new-wells term are both examples.

Noise

Limits measured at nearby homes, often against a pre-construction baseline, plus generator-testing windows. Lancaster bars generator testing at night, on Sundays, and on federal holidays.

Buffers, screening, and lighting

Setbacks, landscaped screens, enclosed or screened equipment, and dark-sky lighting. Lancaster's summary calls for 100-foot buffers on streets and residential or park edges and 50 feet elsewhere.

Roads and emergency services

Pre- and post-construction road surveys, repair security, first-responder training, and reimbursement of emergency costs. Lancaster reimburses incident costs above $25,000.

Hiring, reporting, and exit

Local hiring plans, public project websites, complaint processes, annual reports, e-waste plans, and decommissioning duties when the facility closes.

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Why a Landowner Should Care About a Contract They Don’t Sign

1. Approval timing and your outside date

Most data center land deals are options or purchase contracts with long approval contingencies, as we explain in our guide to data center land option agreements. If the town expects a CBA before it grants final approvals, the negotiation becomes part of the developer’s critical path. Swatara’s agreements are expressly subject to final, unappealable approval of the land-development plans. When you review an option, look at how many extensions the developer can buy, what each one costs, and whether the outside closing date is realistic given local politics.

2. Usable acreage

Buffers and screening come out of the site plan. A 100-foot buffer along a road and a residential edge, like the one in Lancaster’s summary, can take a meaningful share of a smaller or oddly shaped parcel. Developers price that into what they’ll pay per acre, and the stricter the expected community terms, the more a long, narrow parcel suffers compared with a compact one. Our guide to how much land a data center needs covers the rest of the math.

3. Obligations that run with the land

Lancaster’s summary says that when a property is sold, the new owner must assume all obligations under the agreement. If you sell outright, that falls on the developer and later buyers. If you ground-lease instead of selling, you keep the fee title, and you’ll want your lease to make clear that CBA obligations belong to the tenant, with indemnity and security to match. The same applies if you keep adjacent land that could be subject to buffer or screening commitments.

4. Deferred or contingent payments to you

Some landowners take part of the price as milestone payments or a share of later phases. If your payments depend on construction milestones, notice that the town’s payments in a deal like Swatara’s are tied to the same milestones. A project that stalls stops paying everyone. Price that risk honestly rather than counting the full headline number.

How CBAs Interact With Taxes and Incentives

A CBA is not the same thing as a tax abatement or PILOT, and the three public examples above handle taxes differently. Barber County says Google will pay full property taxes with no abatement. Lancaster says the developer gets no city tax breaks, including Pennsylvania’s LERTA program. Swatara says its contributions are separate from ordinary tax revenue. Elsewhere, a developer may receive an abatement and offer community payments as part of the same package. For the incentive side, see our guide to data center tax incentives and abatements.

For a landowner, the practical point is that a developer weighing two sites will compare the full cost of each jurisdiction, including incentives, taxes, and the likely community package. A county with a reputation for demanding large CBAs isn’t automatically a bad place to own land. It can be a sign that projects there do get approved, at a known price.

Questions to Ask a Developer About Community Terms

Does the township or county expect a CBA for this project, and who is negotiating it?
Is final approval of the CBA a condition of closing or of exercising the option?
What buffers, setbacks, or screening are you assuming in the site plan, and how many acres do they consume?
Will any obligation apply to land I keep, or survive if the project is sold?
If this is a ground lease, will the lease put every CBA obligation on the tenant, with indemnity and security?
Are any payments to me tied to the same construction milestones as the town’s payments?

Bring these to your real estate attorney along with the option or lease draft. Our land due diligence checklist covers the rest of what a developer will look at.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a data center community benefit agreement?

It's a contract between a data center developer or owner and a local government (sometimes community groups are parties too) in which the developer commits to payments and operating conditions beyond what zoning and permits already require. Recent examples include direct payments into local funds, milestone payments tied to construction, caps on water use, noise limits measured at nearby homes, landscaped buffers, local hiring plans, road-repair security, emergency-response reimbursement, and decommissioning duties.

Who signs the CBA, the landowner or the developer?

In the public examples we reviewed, the developer or project owner signs with the municipality or county. A landowner who sells outright usually isn't a party. A landowner who ground-leases or keeps adjacent land can still be affected, because some agreements bind whoever owns the property later. Lancaster, Pennsylvania's summary says a new owner must assume all obligations when a property is sold.

How big are data center community benefit payments?

They vary enormously and are negotiated project by project. Lancaster's agreement summary describes $10 million to each of two city funds. Barber County, Kansas announced $5.5 million in community benefit payments from Google, on top of full property taxes. Swatara Township, Pennsylvania announced $120.3 million in contributions across two campuses, tied to development milestones. None of those numbers is a benchmark for any other site.

Does a CBA replace property taxes or tax incentives?

Not necessarily. Swatara Township describes its contributions as separate from ordinary tax revenue. Barber County says Google will pay 100% of ad valorem property taxes with no abatement, in addition to its community benefit payments. Lancaster's summary says the developer is not receiving city tax breaks, including LERTA. Other jurisdictions pair agreements with abatements or PILOTs instead, so read the whole deal.

Can a CBA delay my land closing?

It can affect timing. Swatara Township says its agreements are subject to final, unappealable approval of the land-development plans, and its payments are triggered by earthwork, foundations, and certificates of occupancy. If a developer's purchase contract or option depends on the same approvals, negotiating a CBA can sit on the critical path. Ask how the developer's approval contingency and outside closing date account for that.

Should a landowner ask to see the CBA before signing an option or lease?

If you are ground-leasing, keeping adjacent acreage, or taking part of the price in later payments, it's reasonable to ask for the agreement or a summary once it exists, and to have your attorney review whether any obligation could run with land you keep. If you're selling the whole parcel for cash at closing, the CBA mainly matters as a signal of whether the project can get approved. This is not legal advice.

Sources: City of Lancaster, PA, “Community Benefits Agreement Summary” (Lancaster AI Hub, November 2025); Barber County Board of County Commissioners, press release on Project Helium agreement terms (August 31, 2026); Swatara Township, PA, “Swatara Township Approves $120.3 Million in Community Benefits for Highlands Data Center Projects” (October 8, 2026). Figures are as stated by each government. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice.

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