A property owner argues Ransom Twp. legally must allow data centers as it appeals the board of supervisors’ rejection of a zoning ordinance that would have permitted data centers in the township.

The township supervisors acted improperly and went against the advice of their solicitor when they dismissed Scranton Materials LLC’s application for a zoning change that would have allowed a data center campus at 819 Newton Road, attorney Michael Mey argues in an appeal filed last week.

Scranton Materials challenged the township’s zoning ordinance because it does not provide for data centers and therefore unlawfully excludes them, the appeal states. Pennsylvania municipalities are required to allow for every type of lawful land use somewhere within their borders.

Scranton Materials filed a curative amendment, which challenges the validity of the township’s zoning ordinance, in November. At a Jan. 20 hearing, township supervisors voted 2-1 to dismiss the proposed changes due to lack of testimony and evidence from Scranton Materials. Laura McGarry, who appeared on behalf of her mother, Susan Magnotta, a resident of Scranton’s Keyser Valley section, requested the motion.

Magnotta had no standing in the proceeding because she doesn’t live close enough to Scranton Materials’ property, and McGarry did not disclose that Magnotta lives in Scranton, the appeal states.

The amendment would have created a data center district encompassing Scranton Materials’ 251-acre property, and established standards and conditions for data center development in the township. Scranton Materials planned to build a data center campus with six buildings, each with a 156,648-square-foot footprint, with two stormwater management ponds, each containing around 8 million gallons of water.

Data centers are legitimate land uses and have to be accommodated in the township’s zoning, the appeal states. Scranton Materials provided evidence that the township’s zoning ordinance does not include data centers as a land use, including defining and classifying data center uses.

The current township zoning ordinance’s noise and building height requirements are too restrictive for data centers, the appeal states. Scranton Materials provided evidence that data centers have to be allowed, and the township and those who objected to the plans didn’t provide evidence that they aren’t allowed.

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Newton Road in Scranton’s Keyser Valley winds down from the stone quarry at Scranton Materials Monday, February 23, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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Community members gather in the Ransom Twp. Municipal’s garage for the hearing regarding Scranton Materials LLC’s request for a zoning overlay to allow for a data center on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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Community members fill out objector forms during the Ransom Twp. Board of Supervisors hearing regarding Scranton Materials LLC’s request for a zoning overlay to allow for a data center at Ransom Twp. Municipal Building on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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Ransom Twp. resident Nikki Bencho sits in the crowd during the Ransom Twp. Board of Supervisors hearing regarding Scranton Materials LLC’s request for a zoning overlay to allow for a data center at Ransom Twp. Municipal Building on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. A yellow “No Data Centers” pin is on her hat. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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Attorneys Todd Johns and Justin Sulla represented Scranton Materials LLC during the Ransom Twp. Board of Supervisors hearing regarding the organization’s request for a zoning overlay to allow for a data center at Ransom Twp. Municipal Building on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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Keyser Valley resident Hayley Schaffer hands out “No Data Centers” pins during the Ransom Twp. Board of Supervisors hearing regarding Scranton Materials LLC’s request for a zoning overlay to allow for a data center at Ransom Twp. Municipal Building on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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People fill the garage at the Ransom Twp. Municipal Building Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026 for a hearing on a request by Scranton Materials LLC for a zoning overlay to allow for a data center on their property at 819 Newton Road. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)

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Community members fill out objector forms to voice their opposition to Scranton Materials LLC’s request to use their land on Newton Road. for a data center during the Ransom Twp. zoning hearing board at the Ransom Twp. municipal building on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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Community members crowd the Ransom Twp. municipal building in anticipation of the Ransom Twp. zoning hearing board meeting on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. Scranton Materials LLC submitted a request for a zoning overlay to allow for a data center at the organization’s property on Newton Road. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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Scranton resident Laura McGarry speaks during a Ransom Twp. supervisors hearing on a request by Scranton Materials LLC for a zoning overlay to allow for a data center on their property on 819 Newton Road Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)

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Newton Road in Scranton’s Keyser Valley winds down from the stone quarry at Scranton Materials Monday, February 23, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

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The township supervisors held several hearings on the overlay request last month, drawing dozens of members of the public and elected officials who oppose the plans. Supervisors continued the first hearing Jan. 15 after McGarry, an attorney who also resides in Keyser Valley, objected to it. She said she did not believe the application was properly placed before the township, she and her neighbors did not receive information on the data center plans or the township’s proposed zoning amendment and the people who attended weren’t able to hear the proceeding, which was held in a small meeting room in the Municipal Building.

During the Jan. 20 hearing, McGarry raised objections about how the hearing was carried out and advertised, and the lack of supporting materials from Scranton Materials related to the application. She requested the supervisors reject the amendment.

Township Solicitor Kevin Conaboy recessed the meeting to review the municipal code, then reconvened it and recommended the supervisors move forward with the hearing rather than stop the proceedings as McGarry requested.

Against Conaboy’s advice, Supervisors Robert Wells and Gerald Scott voted to deny the amendment. Supervisor Chairman David Bird voted to let the amendment proceed.

Mey contends in the appeal that there is no provision in the state’s municipal planning code that allows for a request to dismiss an application at a zoning hearing, the appeal states. There was “no question” the supervisors acted against the township solicitor’s advice, Mey said in an email to Conaboy included in the appeal.

“My client and I agree with your position and that the supervisors acted improperly,” Mey wrote.

McGarry said she didn’t have any comment on the appeal, adding it would be premature to say anything about it because the township hasn’t issued its formal decision from the hearing.

Efforts to reach Conaboy for comment about the appeal were unsuccessful.

Mey is asking the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas to grant the appeal, reverse the supervisors’ decision and grant zoning relief to allow data center uses on the Scranton Materials property.