SCRANTON — Lackawanna County officials are exploring how the county’s legal standing as an affected landowner might allow it to enter the fight against controversial data center projects proposed near a county housing authority property and a county park.
Democratic Commissioners Bill Gaughan and Thom Welby addressed the data center issue Wednesday, with Gaughan reiterating calls during and after the meeting for the county to use whatever power it might have to push back against at least several data center projects proposed in Archbald: Project Gravity, Project North and Project Green Mountain.
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaugan speaks during the commissioners’ meeting in the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
As proposed, Project Gravity entails constructing nearly 1 million square feet of data centers in the wooded area between Business Route 6 and Eynon Jermyn Road. On the northwest corner of the prospective data center campus, two of the project’s seven data center buildings would be located just south of the Lackawanna County Housing Authority townhouses along Gibson Street in Jermyn.
Project North would construct a smaller, four-building data center campus bordering Jermyn in close proximity to the housing authority property.
Project Green Mountain, meanwhile, proposes constructing seven data center buildings, each with a 138,000-square-foot footprint, at the Stavola Quarry site located east of the Casey Highway and less than a mile south of the county-owned Aylesworth Park.
Lackawanna County Commissioner Thom Welby speaks to Brian Jeffers, county chief of staff, during the commissioners’ meeting in the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Gaughan, who asked more than a month ago for a legal opinion outlining the county’s potential options as it relates to data centers, remains one of the most vocal elected critics of the developments proposed here. He reiterated that opposition Wednesday after recently appointed county Solicitor Chris Caputo addressed the issue of standing in an internal email to commissioners.
“Over a month ago I asked a pretty simple question: What power does Lackawanna County have to defend itself, not philosophically or politically, but legally?” Gaughan said. “Because monstrosities like the data center development Project Gravity back up directly against county-affiliated housing in Jermyn, and when Project Green Mountain creeps towards Aylesworth Park — one of the public spaces that belongs to every family in this county — this is no longer just someone else’s zoning issue. I believe that it is our issue.”
Citing Caputo’s email, Gaughan said “it looks like we can get involved” and emphasized his hope “that we do get involved, because I think it’s that important.”
While the county has no authority over municipal zoning or land use decisions where the data centers are proposed, Caputo said it has the same rights as other landowners.
Lackawanna County Solicitor Christopher Caputo stands up during the commissioners meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
“And that is, if … there’s an argument or a claim or a concern that the land and property that’s owned by the county is going to be negatively affected by data centers, then the county has standing to dispute any changed or amended zoning ordinance that would allow for such a use in the area where their property lies,” Caputo said in a phone interview.
The county’s rights in that sense are essentially those of “a typical landowner … with standing to join existing lawsuits or bring lawsuits on their own to talk about matters — such as nuisance, traffic, pollution, noise — that would affect the use and enjoyment of the property that the county owns,” he said.
Welby also apparently referenced Caputo’s correspondence, noting “counsel did agree that, while it’s usually very hard-fought and can be very costly and tends to be protracted on many issues, as an adjacent landowner we do have standing … to enter into this, and I agree.”
“If our counsel believes that we could or should become involved with this, and the commissioners agree to that, I too agree we’d pursue this conversation,” Welby said, reiterating his opposition to data centers near homes. “To be in the neighborhoods the way they are, particularly Archbald, I mean you look at that map and you have that dot in Archbald of the residential area, and almost completely surrounded with that kind of development. You know, shame on the developers for doing that. There’s certainly areas within Lackawanna County that are more appropriate for this kind of development, and I think that disturbs and bothers all of us.”
Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak looks on during the commissioners’ meeting in the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak did not mention data centers during the meeting. Reached by phone later Wednesday, he said he plans to discuss the issue with Caputo and the county’s legal team.
“Then we’ll have to see where it goes from there,” he said.
What if any action the county might ultimately take in opposition to specific data center projects remains unclear. But Gaughan said “every option is on the table” as far as he’s concerned, noting his desire to “do everything that we can legally do to protect our assets and the people” of the Midvalley and Upvalley regions.
If county property, housing and parks are to be impacted by data centers, Gaughan said the county doesn’t belong on the sidelines.
“I think we belong at the table, filing objections, presenting experts, demanding accountability, appealing decisions if necessary, using every lawful tool that we have,” he said. “Because I don’t think being silent on this, at a moment like this, is acceptable. We should not surrender this county to an industrial experiment disguised as economic policy by billionaires who do not care about Archbald or any other place in Lackawanna County.”
Staff Writer Frank Wilkes Lesnefsky contributed to this report.