Litigation to attempt to appeal Archbald Borough Council’s decision to deny a zoning permit to the Wildcat Ridge Data Center is imminent.
Ahead of that lawsuit, Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan — who was not involved in the council’s decision — received a legal notice on Monday asking him to preserve any information, including personal-device records, related to the project.
“Let’s call it what it looks like: an attempt to intimidate me and send a chilling message to anyone who dares stand in the way of the data center industry’s ambitions,” Gaughan said. “The people of Archbald spent months attending hearings, asking questions, examining evidence and exercising their democratic rights. Their elected representatives listened and voted to reject this project. That is not a failure of democracy.”
Gaughan is outspoken and opposed to data center development in the county and beyond. He attends most, if not all, public meetings in Lackawanna County related to data centers. The commissioner often provides testimony during public comment about his resistance to the industry and the devastation he believes it will bring to the region.
Attorney Jordan Siev from Reed Smith’s New York Office sent Gaughan, some members of the Valley View School Board and borough council the three-page letter.
“We reasonably foresee litigation against the borough and members of borough council … in their individual capacities,” Siev’s letter states. "Upon information and belief, you have documents relevant to the litigation."
The 'wrong guy'
On Oct. 21, Archbald council unanimously denied Cornell Realty Management’s zoning application to build a 14-building data center campus on over 500 acres of land in the borough.
Council held nine hearings where both the developer and the opposition presented expert witnesses who they also cross examined. Cornell, through its attorney Edmund Campbell, had to prove its project aligned with the borough’s zoning laws.
Siev’s letter asks that Gaughan preserve records related to his role on the borough planning commission or the borough’s community development and economic committee.
Gaughan is not on either of those committees.
“This is not an optional request, but a mandatory directive supported by applicable law…” the letter says. “Your failure to comply with this notice to retain all relevant data may result in severe consequences under the law, in which individuals, entities and/or their counsel may be held liable for monetary or other punishment under contempt of court.”
Gaughan said the lawyers sent the letter to the wrong guy.
“I will never surrender my voice, my principles or my responsibility to the people of Lackawanna County," he said. "These developers can hire the biggest law firms in America. They can spend millions on consultants, lobbyists and public relations campaigns. They can threaten lawsuits until they are blue in the face but there is one thing their money can’t buy: the consent of a community that has decided enough is enough.”
