A Brooklyn-based developer plans to build a data center campus on over 500 acres in Archbald, including at least 14 two-story buildings with 41 diesel generators each, despite not yet having an end user.
Cornell Realty Management LLC's attorney, Edmund Campbell, and project manager Albert J. Magnotta III, associate vice president of LaBella Associates in Dunmore, testified about the project during a conditional use hearing before Archbald Borough Council Wednesday.
Residents packed the Valley View High School auditorium to oppose not only Cornell's Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus but also four other campuses planned in their community.
"To begin with, I recognize that no one is here because they like them, and everybody's here because as I think, the third speaker indicated that there's a lot of opposition to this," Campbell said.
Cornell applied for a conditional use permit for the campus, which is planned for the west end of Archbald along Wildcat Road across from the Sugerman’s Plaza on Business Route 6 and near the Scott Twp. border.
The hearing was continued after two hours. The next date was not announced Wednesday.
During the proceedings, Campbell, a King of Prussia-based lawyer, will seek to prove that the project fits within the borough’s zoning laws. He plans to call five witnesses. Magnotta, who serves as the project manager, was the first.
Elected officials oppose campus
The hearing opened with opposition to Wildcat Ridge and the other data center campuses from Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan, state Rep. Kyle Mullins and Lackawanna County Controller Gary Dibileo, the third speaker Campbell referenced.
"I am not anti-technology, and I'm not anti-progress. I don't think anybody is, but I am absolutely opposed to sacrifice zones, which I think this is what we're becoming,” Gaughan said. “A sacrifice zone is a community that's told they're the right place to absorb the damage so someone else can reap the reward. I am opposed to a future where communities like Archbald are once again told ‘trust us, be patient, it will be worth it in the end.’ We have heard that before. Coal was supposed to be worth it. It wasn't.”
Insight into the data center campus
There are four homes near the property, which Magnotta said Cornell Management owns.
The developer also plans a commercial development at the base of property, which is not part of the conditional use process. There could be a grocery store or offices.
"So Trader Joe's, or something like that,” Magnotta said.
Campbell later added, when questioned by council about tenants, that his client has been speaking with users about the commercial space.
The data center buildings will not have a large monolithic look and the campus and each building will be landscaped, as required by the borough’s data center ordinance, plans show.
Magnotta said the layout of the campus was created to reflect the “maximum that the property could yield.”
"Depending on final stormwater management design, final building design by the end user, the numbers could vary,” he said of the 14 buildings.
The property’s substation, switch gear and water storage facilities will be located adjacent to Scott Twp. The building’s generators will also face in the direction of the township.
Council member Tom Aniska asked if there are any additional methods to sound proof the generators.
"One of the main reasons that we orientated the buildings as they are was so that the generators would face up the valley, away from the town to provide that," Magnotta said.
New water infrastructure needed
The application estimates that $93 million in upgrades will be needed to provide the 3.3 million gallons of water needed at the site.
Magnotta pointed out later that an eventual end user might apply a different cooling system and use less water.
"We're coming up with the most conservative estimate as we can to not necessarily limit the potential end user … the estimate may go down significantly as we get through that process,” he said.
There’s currently a Pennsylvania American Water water tower on the property. Magnotta said a new one will be built by the developer to accommodate the utility’s current water and level of service.
Aniska asked about the project’s “will serve” letter from Pennsylvania American Water.
“So what they're saying is that there the watershed that feeds Lake Scranton has the capacity to meet the demand, not only of whatever its current user base is, but also demand of what the project is asking for. How that water gets to this site is the responsibility of the developer to do, to undertake,” Magnotta said. "That's why we are looking into utilizing the mine pool water to supplement the system.”
Councilmember Lou Rapoch asked where water would come from if there was a drought and the Lake Scranton reservoir ran dry.
“So if Lake Scranton was to run dry, they would be shutting off the industrial users,” Magnotta said.
Rapoch then pointed out the current piping system can’t handle that amount of water.
"So our road system is going to be torn up from here to high water,” he said.
Magnotta responded “right, but” and then was drowned out by cheers from the crowd.
Access to the mine pool
Magnotta said the area, like much of the Mid Valley, was previously mined for coal.
The developer also is proposing using mine water, which would have to be treated. Water collects in the mines from rain and snow. When anthracite coal was mined, coal companies had to pump the water out.
Council President Dave Moran asked if that has ever been done before.
“Not that I'm aware of … so the water is available and can be used to supplement the system that they have,” Magnotta answered.
He also pointed out that the property is at the edge of the mine pool. The developer asked that they research using the water.
"We'd have to do a full comprehensive evaluation of the subsurface, drilling, pump tests. Then we'd also have to go through DEP and SRBC (Susquehanna River Basin Commission) to get all the permitting in place,” Magnotta said. “But it is something that we really like to do, because it will be a beneficial use to the project.”
But using that water, which is polluted with iron, sulfuric acid, aluminum, manganese and other toxic heavy metals, would require treating it.
Who will run the data center?
Aniska was the second person to ask if the campus has an end user.
Magnotta said no.
“What's your guarantee that an end user will then also agree to these conditions?” Aniska asked.
"Whatever conditions that would be put in place with the approval would carry with the property,” Magnotta said. “So if another end user, somebody was to come in, they would have the piece of paper with them that says ‘okay, you gotta adhere to conditions, A, B and C’.”
According to the developer’s conditional use application, the project will:
- Create 1,280 permanent, high-wage jobs; the application estimates that only 20% of those employees will be new residents in Archbald.
- Bring $44 million annual net positive fiscal impact to Archbald; “While there is no residential impact to school enrollment expected from the project itself, there could be indirect impacts from new employment that attract additional residents to the area,” according to the application.
- Investment in local STEM/CTE education, scholarships, internships and equipment donations
- Fund any required emergency responder training and specialized equipment and maintain an ongoing partnership with Archbald Borough EMS and volunteer fire companies.
- After the campus is fully completed, it will generate around 2,500 additional vehicle trips per day or a 13.6% increase in local traffic volume
- Could eventually discharge around 78,000 gallons per day to the Lackawanna River Sewer Basin Authority’s facility; the developer would have to pay to upgrade the authority’s system.
