Despite a challenge by a developer hoping to build a large-scale data center campus in the North Pocono area, the Clifton Twp. Zoning Board backed up its zoning ordinance, stating that it does allow for data centers to be built in the municipality.
After four hearings, which began in July, board secretary Erin Horrigan finally motioned for the vote.
“That the zoning ordinance is not defective and is not unlawfully exclusionary as it relates to data center uses and is not substantively invalid,” she said.
Chairman Wayne Fiene and members Michael and Jennie Shatynski all voted yes.
Plans for 1778 Rich Pike LLC’s Project Gold are not off the table.
Matthew McHugh, a lawyer for the Doylestown developer, said they will wait to receive the zoning board’s official opinion before taking their next step. McHugh is an attorney at Klehr Harrison Harvey Branzburg LLP in Philadelphia.
The zoning board has 45 days to submit a written decision explaining its vote to the developers.
Data center deliberation
In April, 1778 Rich Pike LLC filed a substantive validity challenge against the township’s zoning ordinance. The Doylestown developer plans to build a data center campus in Clifton and Covington townships on at least seven properties. The campus could house up to 30 data centers and would rely on PPL’s 230kV transmission line, which runs along Route 380.
At the time, Clifton did not have an ordinance regulating data centers. Supervisors added one in May.
The developer said the ordinance excluded data centers and all of the industry’s uses, like private power generation facilities, which are used as back up power.
They sought site-specific relief for three properties in Clifton, one of which is zoned for housing.
Clifton residents react
The development and the challenge brought out residents from both Clifton and Covington townships. Many are opposed to the development.
They worry the campus will drain their water and power and cause noise and air pollution and health problems as well as degrade the character and natural features of the mostly rural community.
Clifton resident Oksana Froymany was granted party status in the hearings because of her property’s close proximity to the potential campus. She was able to cross examine the developer’s six expert witnesses.
Froymany often asked about the developer’s plan to include Small Module Reactors (SMR) to use nuclear power.
“I think it's a very good result that this data center is not exclusionary,” she said.
From her perspective, data centers are like warehouses.
“We have that under our current ordinance,” she said.
Andrew Danchuk was also granted party status. He questioned almost every witness about their involvement with the project and the data center developer. Most were either hired to examine the ordinance or worked on preliminary plans for the campus.
“It's wonderful for Clifton Twp. and for the chance that we have to stop the type of construction that we don't want in our community,” he said. “So this is a good first step.”
Both Froymany and Danchuk are apprehensive about the developer’s next step.
“It's a concern, but I think this is the type of direction we needed to take as a community to show that we're unified and that we are opposed to this development,” Danchuk said.
