Township should deny data center project proposed for Pennhurst, planning commissioners say

Calling a developer’s plan for a data center at the historic Pennhurst site “technically deficient” and not in compliance with the zoning ordinance, East Vincent’s planning commission voted Tuesday to recommend that the township’s board of supervisors deny the proposal.

The decision, which passed the commission unanimously and saw enthusiasm from residents who had been vehemently pushing back against the project for months, doesn’t hit the brakes completely. The township’s board of supervisors will still have a hearing for the project in March.

The developer declined to appear at the meeting Tuesday, instead sending a letter indicating they intended to revise the submitted plan and pressing the commission for a positive vote.

Their absence rankled the commission.

“I take exception to the fact that the applicant and the applicant’s lawyers have declined to present this evening, and they informed us by letter” that morning, said vice chairman Lawson Macartney. “This is especially germane, given the lamentably poor technical quality of detail presented in the plans.”

The commission’s vote is a win for the residents in the township — and surrounding municipalities — who have decried the plan that would bring five two-story data center buildings, a sixth building, an electrical substation, and a solar field, totaling more than 1.3 million square feet, according to sketch plans.

The data center would sit at the property of Pennhurst State School and Hospital — known as Pennhurst Asylum in its Halloween capacity. It’s situated near the Schuylkill and borders Spring City, and would be a close neighbor to the Southeastern Veterans’ Center.

“Based on the materials presently before the township, there is no factual or legal basis to conclude that the proposed development would create impacts greater than those ordinarily associated with a permitted conditional use,” Matthew McHugh, the developer’s attorney, wrote in the letter.

But the commission found the plans lacking in detail and explanation of what impact it’d have on water, trees, employment, and more, saying the materials were “significantly technically deficient and do not comply with our zoning ordinance in some major ways.”

But the letter indicated the developer would submit a revised plan that would add private power generation consisting of natural gas and battery storage installation, and relocate the proposed substation. The overall square footage and building heights wouldn’t change, the letter said.

“I just think this is the biggest, most impactful development that’s been proposed in our community since I’ve been on the planning commission,” said the commission’s chairwoman, Rachael Griffith. “I’m just shocked at the minimal detail that has been provided and just doing the absolute bare minimum, especially when data centers are just such a hot topic these days…I’m just sort of dumbfounded as to why they thought we might be interested in recommending this in the first place.”

Residents praised the commission’s decision.

“This is the kind of stuff that keeps people up at night, especially those of us who are impacted,” resident Larry Shank told the board. “You really made my night. Thank you.”

State Sen. Katie Muth, who represents the township and is a resident, said commissioners protected the community.

“I think that you all made the right decision tonight on a multitude of fronts,” she told them.

East Vincent’s proposed data center comes as Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has championed data center development, promoting a 10-year plan that includes cutting regulatory “red tape” to make it easier to approve them. The governor’s office also announced Amazon would spend $20 billion to develop data centers and other artificial-intelligence campuses across Pennsylvania.

Despite pushes at the federal and state level, 42% of Pennsylvanians say they would oppose the centers being built in their area, according to a recent survey.

With the state’s strong private property rights, it creates a bind for township officials, who are struggling with residents’ pushback and zoning allowances.

“Pennhurst LLC owns the land, so they can do what they want with it, as long as it aligns with our ordinances and what they’re allowed to do,” Griffith told attendees Tuesday. “They’re trying to do something that is not really allowed. It’s our role to uphold our zoning ordinance so that they stick to that.”

In December, the township’s board of supervisors declined to move forward with a draft ordinance it had been penning for months that would govern data center development in the township, allowing the application to come before the planning commission and continue on to the conditional use hearings.

The township’s solicitor said the scheduled March 16 conditional use hearing for the project would move forward. If the developer submits an updated plan, the proposal could come back before the planning commission.