Gov. Josh Shapiro stepped up to the podium in a hollow industrial building in Hazleton in November 2024 and said Pennsylvania’s permitting process often stymied development in the state.
"We recognize that time is money, and we recognize that it took too damn long to get projects done in the past," the governor said. "In fact, we also recognize that there were developers who would think about a project, not even maybe need capital from the commonwealth, but would look at how long it would take to get projects done and say, ‘you know what, we're going to go elsewhere.'”
Later, he signed a ceremonial executive order in Luzerne County establishing the PA Permit Fast Track Program. The governor was three miles down the road from one of the first economic developments piloted in the program — Project Hazlenut, a large-scale data center campus in Hazle Twp.
Almost two years later, the data center industry is overwhelming Pennsylvania with proposals. And residents from Archbald, in neighboring Lackawanna County, are questioning how the state program operates after learning that Archbald 25 Developer LLC’s Project Gravity was accepted into Fast Track.
The Office of Transformation and Opportunity (OTO), the agency which coordinates the program, says Project Gravity was initially accepted into the program on Sept. 22. It was not listed on the program’s website, which is designed to ensure project transparency.
"You can't preach transparency and not be transparent. That's creating this major distrust amongst the constituents,” Tamara Misewicz-Healey said. She and her husband, Justin Healey, started the Stop Archbald Data Centers group.
Developers have not yet provided a proposed schedule for permitting, which OTO uses to develop a Coordinated Project Plan, according to the state. The project requires that schedule as well as local approvals to progress on Fast Track.
At the press conference in 2024, the governor said the online dashboard would allow the developers and the public to follow along to see how this project is progressing.
“You'll be able to know what permits are needed, you'll be able to know how long those permits are taking, and you'll be able to know the date, certain that those permits will be issued if they are warranted,” the governor said. “All of this now works together, and we have now unprecedented transparency on this process and accountability for our good folks in our state government.”
"OTO is in the process of updating its website to list all projects, even those who have not yet developed a Coordinated Project Plan," according to the state.
There are currently nine projects on the Fast Track dashboard. Five are data center campuses, three are in Northeast Pennsylvania.
“Fast Track doesn’t change permitting rules; rather, it streamlines the process. It does not, in any way, bypass municipal approval, lessen the permitting requirements or override what the law requires. It is simply a program that offers assigned, coordinated help to developers in navigating state government regulations,” according to the OTO.
Shapiro established the Office of Transformation and Opportunity (OTO) with an executive order when he took office in 2024. He appointed Ben Krishner to run the agency.
Who gets into Fast Track?
The governor has made attracting businesses, large and small, to Pennsylvania a priority of his administration.
The state has surpassed more than $1 billion in contracts with small businesses, small diverse businesses, and veteran-owned business enterprises two years in a row, according to a press release from Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) in February.
The administration has attracted over $40.4 billion in private-sector investment, including from companies like Terrapower Isotopes, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories, B. Braun, and GSK, according to DCED.
But when it comes to data centers, residents and elected officials in communities across the commonwealth have more questions, including how the projects qualify for fast track.
Northeast Pennsylvania is the epicenter of data center development in the state. Archbald has six proposed data center campuses, the most developments of any municipality in Pennsylvania.
In order to qualify for Fast Track, projects do not have to be a certain acreage or create a certain number of jobs, Shapiro said in 2024.
"But what it is are complex, large scale projects that are going to require a lot of different agencies to be involved, that's going to require a lot of different permits along the way," Shapiro said. "And so we don't want a developer like NorthPoint or any others to get frustrated by that or feel stymied by that. Instead, what we want is to have the Office of Transformation and Opportunity walk them through this process.”
Archbald 25 Developer LLC's Project Gravity is a seven-building data center campus on 186 acres of mine-spoiled land off Business Route 6. Each building will be 135,000 square-feet each, which is about two times as big as the White House.
The New York City-based developer reported to the state that they expect to invest $5 billion in the project, and create 300 permanent jobs and 1,200 construction jobs over a five-year period.
The developer purchased the land from Five Up Realty, owned by Jim Marzolino, the president of Kriger Construction. The new owners have already torn trees on the property down to their stumps.
Archbald council President Louis Rapoch said during a council meeting on Wednesday that the land owners had until the end of the month to level the trees because of a bat population that has to be protected on the land.
"They cannot do anything else. They can't move any ground,” he said.
Archbald Solicitor James O’Connor added that Project Gravity needs permission from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) before they can move any earth.
Despite the reasoning, residents are still upset.
“We have seen a preview of what will happen to our borough's environment through the … apocalyptic images of the obliteration of the trees on the Project Gravity site,” resident Madonna Munley said during the meeting.
Local approval or nothing
OTO says that both Project Gravity and Project Hazlenut must secure local approval or they will not be able to move forward in Fast Track.
Project Gravity was principally permitted under the borough’s 2023 zoning laws, said Archbald Borough Manager Dan Markey. That means Archbald 25 Developer LLC had to receive approval for their project from the zoning office and the planning commission.
On Wednesday, Markey said Project Gravity received preliminary land development approval from the borough, but not final.
“Once Project Gravity submits its proposed schedule for permitting and additional information about the project, the Shapiro Administration will determine whether the project will continue to receive Fast Track support,” OTO says.
Project Hazlenut was initially accepted into PA Permit Fast Track in November 2024. OTO has worked with developers since then. NorthPoint’s land development plan was denied by Hazle Twp. Supervisors in November.
New standards for data center projects
During Shapiro’s budget address in February, he announced the new Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development program. Called GRID, it sets standards that Shapiro expects the data center industry to follow.
"Governor Shapiro has heard directly from Pennsylvanians who are concerned about data center development and he is committed to ensuring AI development strengthens communities and puts Pennsylvanians first while taking advantage of our commonwealth’s strengths for economic growth,” Shapiro Administration spokesperson Rosie Lapowsky said.
Those standards include:
- Developers must bring their own power generation online or fully fund new generation to meet their needs — without driving up costs for homeowners or businesses. Projects must also meet the highest standards for environmental protection, including strict water conservation requirements.
- Developers must commit to open, transparent engagement with local residents and leaders.
- Projects must hire and train local workers and enter into meaningful community benefit agreements that invest in local priorities.
- Only projects that meet these standards will receive the Commonwealth’s full support, including speed and certainty in permitting and access to available incentives.
Projects accepted into the PA Permit Fast Track program must meet the same rigorous environmental and safety standards as all other projects, Lapowsky said.
“The Shapiro Administration strongly encourages all data center developers who want to build in Pennsylvania to meet the Governor’s GRID standards — and will only accept new Fast Track applications for data center projects that meet those standards,” she said.
'Betrayal to the people'
Misewicz-Healey said it's infuriating to hear the words versus the actions of politicians.
"Not that it's a done deal, but it feels like a betrayal to the people, because you're helping projects that don't meet a level of standard and responsibility and quality," she said. "So they should not qualify to be fast-tracked. They are not in the best interest of these communities ... it just feels like our government from Archbald borough up to the state is on the side of the developers.”
State Sen. Rosemary Brown, R-Monroe, has the most data center projects proposed in her district than any other elected official at the state level. She is co-sponsoring legislation to put a three-year moratorium on the industry and has proposed a residents-first legislative package to protect communities from the developments.
She said permitting efficiency at the state level is needed. But she does not believe Project Gravity is a good applicant for the program. Her reasoning: it’s in a residential area and there’s still more questions than answers about the developer’s plans for the property.
"I think the elected officials and the state need to make sure we have definitive answers to questions that will make sure the water supply is there, electricity rates are not raised on residents for these and they're put in the right places for the way people want to live their life in Pennsylvania,” Brown said.
Project Gravity will also displace Valley View estates residents from their mobile homes in the borough. The campus also borders 18 homes in the borough.
"It's obviously in a very controversial location, right next to residents,” Misewicz-Healey said.
She said it's an environmental justice concern.
“The term environmental justice has been defined as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies,” according to the state.
The state does not define the mobile-home park as being in an environmental justice area.
Despite that, the developer has not given residents any “insight into what their future looks like for their housing,” Misewicz-Healey said.
“This is a very vulnerable population that would need a lot of time, care, if they need to leave and if they're going to be evicted from there,” she said. “So if Project Gravity has been accepted into this program and backed by the state and by regulatory bodies, it gives me huge concerns on how low that bar is set, and if there are any standards for quality, public safety, environmental protection or sustainability.”
