With no end in sight for the region’s burgeoning data center industry, local governments continue to work on legislation regulating the server-filled concrete complexes poised to be built in their communities.
Lackawanna County’s Midvalley region has become a hub for data centers, receiving at least six proposals for campuses in less than a year in Archbald, Blakely and Jessup. For local governments, the power to regulate data centers lies in their zoning ordinances, allowing them to dictate where they can be built and establish conditions for their approval that require developers to testify in front of borough officials and the community.
Municipalities in Pennsylvania have to allow for every type of lawful land use somewhere within their borders. Historically, local governments have accommodated developments by rezoning land or updating zoning definitions to include new uses. But with data centers, municipalities are instead looking to use overlay districts designating certain areas where they can be built without changing the underlying zoning district. That means if the land is not used for data centers, it retains its original zoning designation. At the same time, it doesn’t allow data centers in every instance of a zoning district, like every industrial zone, but rather just the overlay.
So far, Jessup, which has proposals for two data center projects, was the first Midvalley community to adopt a data center zoning ordinance Aug. 19 that restricted the facilities to land above the Casey Highway while applying restrictions as conditional uses.
In Archbald, with three proposed data center campuses — the most of any community in Lackawanna County — borough council attempted to pass its own data center zoning ordinance during a special meeting Oct. 3. Faced with substantial community opposition from residents who urged the borough to reduce the number of locations it allowed data centers while applying additional restrictions, council failed to adopt the legislation, instead letting the motion die without even coming to a vote. In response, more than 150 residents signed a petition within two days asking the borough to amend and reconsider the proposed zoning with even more safeguards and fewer areas to build them.
While Blakely is temporarily in the clear after a developer withdrew a request to rezone about 200 acres of residentially zoned land to build up to four data centers — a proposal that drew significant community opposition — the town now hopes to adopt a zoning update next month that would limit data centers to land away from residents on the north side of Business Route 6 while applying a slew of conditions.
Similarly, in Olyphant, which does not have any data center proposals but received inquiries, the borough is preemptively working on zoning that would limit data centers to land east of the Casey Highway while also imposing numerous conditions.
During a news conference Wednesday at the site of the upcoming Century Logistics Center in Archbald and Mayfield, which will build nearly 1.4 million square feet of warehouses — not data centers — across the two towns, Gov. Josh Shapiro answered questions about his stance on data centers near residential developments and how residents can be protected.
The governor pointed to his announcement in June that Amazon plans to invest at least $20 billion to build multiple data center campuses across Pennsylvania, including Salem Twp. in Luzerne County. Shapiro called it the largest private sector investment in the state’s history and said it will create more than 1,000 permanent jobs along with 10,000 construction jobs.
“We have worked with the local community, in that case, to make sure that through their supervisors, township commissioners and others, that those needs are going to be met and those needs are going to be heard, that people’s power costs are not going to go up, their water will not be compromised,” Shapiro said. “I think with any of these deals, you’ve got to work with the local community.”
Shapiro said his administration worked with local government when dealing with Amazon.
“I think it’s critically important that we continue to do that, listen to the local government, incorporate their concerns, and then lean in together,” Shapiro said. “We’re always attentive to their concerns, and when we hear their concerns, we know we’re hearing the concerns of their local citizens, and we want to continue to be sensitive to that.”
Archbald
As the parents of three young children, Archbald residents Justin Healey, 35, and his wife, Tamara Misewicz-Healey, 37, didn’t initially involve themselves in Archbald’s data center debate.
But, in the week leading up to a Sept. 29 public hearing on a data center zoning amendment, the couple decided to get involved after talking to other residents.
“We were kind of seeing where it was headed, and we figured we had to get involved at that point if we’re going to potentially have any kind of say in which way it went,” Healey said Thursday.
The two testified at both the public hearing and subsequent special meeting to consider the ordinance Oct. 3, with Misewicz-Healey giving an impassioned speech that drew applause.
Archbald resident Tamara Misewicz-Healey, standing at podium, addresses borough council during a data center zoning hearing at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Archbald, on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO)
Healey urged council Oct. 3 to hold off on its vote, telling them, “A short, correct pause is far better than a permanent wrong vote that hands large companies a map and a legal path into neighborhoods and parks where they don’t even belong.”
Under Archbald’s current zoning, data centers are permitted uses in commercial/light industrial, general commercial, light industrial and general industrial zoning districts; the ordinance would have removed data centers from those zones and made them conditional uses in four data center overlay zoning districts. Doing so would have barred data centers from some areas of the town while opening up others for their development, including hundreds of acres of residential- and conservation-zoned land along Business Route 6 and Route 247.
As a conditional use, data center developers would have been required to attend a public hearing in front of council while adhering to restrictions established in the ordinance, including preventing data centers from using nuclear-, coal- and oil-powered generation for full-time generators, maintaining a minimum 300-foot setback from residential areas, conducting a preliminary sound study followed by an as-built sound study, and carrying out a water feasibility study if using nonpublic water sources. Other requirements included architectural design guidelines, buffer requirements and berm requirements to minimize visual impacts, sound restrictions and requirements to abide by environmental regulators.
Until council adopts a new zoning amendment, data centers remain permitted uses.
In light of that, with the ordinance dying on a Friday night, by Sunday, the Healeys put together a petition under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code to request a new zoning amendment for data centers that builds on the previous ordinance. In total, 153 people signed the petition Oct. 5, which they submitted to the borough electronically and during council’s work session Wednesday, Healey said.
The petition contends that the current zoning in Archbald “poses serious risks to the health, safety and welfare of nearby residents,” as well as conflicting with the borough’s comprehensive plan, which calls for compatible land-use transitions and the protection of established neighborhoods.
The petition specifically asks the borough to limit data centers to general industrial-zoned land east of the Casey Highway encompassing Archbald Heights Road with “robust environmental, noise and infrastructure performance standards.” The petition also seeks a temporary moratorium on data center applications, as well as requiring that any data center application filed after the date of the petition’s acceptance be subject to the revised standards, rather than grandfathered under current zoning.
When the previous ordinance died, Healey said he knew “there’s a lot more work ahead of us.”
“It reverts us back in the borough to (data centers) being principally permitted in many areas all over Archbald, which also is not ideal,” he said. “We know that we do need to amend our zoning ordinance, but we need to do it in a responsible manner that narrows the geography a bit.”
Blakely
As Blakely works on a zoning ordinance regulating and defining data centers, borough officials want to keep them as far away from residential areas as possible, said borough Manager Chris Paone, who is also the zoning officer.
“We want to have proper protections in place, such as environmental studies, health studies and noise studies,” Paone said.
Developers will have to pay for and complete the studies using a qualified professional of Blakely’s choosing, and then come to the borough planning commission and council prior to any approvals, he said.
Blakely adopted its zoning ordinance in 2017 and last amended it in 2020, he said.
The zoning ordinance does not include data centers.
Blakely’s updated ordinance would restrict data centers to a data center overlay district on the northern end of town above Business Route 6, Paone said.
To ensure the town has as many protections in place as possible, Paone said he has reviewed other local ordinances, ordinances from other areas of the state and even ordinances from Loudoun County, Virginia, which is nicknamed “Data Center Alley” due to the number of data centers.
From his research, Paone said the borough will put in more stringent noise restrictions that include low-frequency sounds below what humans can hear.
Data centers would also need to have letters from water and gas utilities, if they use natural gas, showing the utility companies have the capacity to serve the facilities, he said. Unlike most municipalities across the state, Blakely administers its own electricity, so data centers would be buying power directly from the borough rather than a utility company.
As a result, developers will be required to present the borough with their electrical needs to confirm whether Blakely can secure the electricity, Paone said. Data centers will also have to pay for any infrastructure upgrades, which is already a requirement within the borough, he said.
“One thing that we’ve learned through this whole process is it’s not going to be, ‘Yes, approve this, and then we’ll come with all this stuff,’” Paone said. “Everything has to come in first before any type of approvals are going to happen.”
Having full environmental, noise and health studies performed by an independent third party will help borough council to make its decision, he said.
Paone said the borough took into consideration the comments and concerns of residents during a data center question-and-answer session in August.
“We feel that we put together a very strong ordinance that protects the borough while following through on our legal obligation to allow a data center somewhere within the borough,” Paone said.
Paone expects council to vote to advertise its data center ordinance during its next meeting Oct. 20, which would schedule a public hearing in November where council would vote on the proposal after the hearing, he said.
Olyphant
Olyphant Borough Council voted Sept. 16 to authorize its solicitor, code enforcement officer and engineer to draft a zoning amendment regulating data centers and related uses.
Despite being adopted in 2019, Olyphant’s zoning ordinance does not have any provisions for data centers, said solicitor and borough Manager C.J. Mustacchio.
“This doesn’t mean that anybody at this point, of course, is supporting or is against data centers,” Mustacchio said. “We simply have to, or should, prudently make regulations governing them because we have none in the ordinance right now.”
Olyphant has received inquiries from data centers, but none have actually applied, Mustacchio said.
Mustacchio recommended to council that the developments be restricted to land east of the Casey Highway as conditional uses in an overlay district to keep them far away from residential areas. Towns do not have to allow data centers in multiple districts — they just have to be allowed somewhere in the borough, he said.
“We’re not looking to have many districts that they’re allowed in, and we’re not looking to even have many areas that they’re allowed in,” he said. “We’re looking at areas that meet the requirements where the utilities can be supplied and paid for by the developers, and where there’s (a) sufficient amount of land between this proposed development and residential areas.”
Conditions will be based on stipulations including noise, proximity to residential areas, water capacity and electrical capacity, he said, explaining borough officials also want answers to questions about how a data center could affect residents’ utility bills.
Residents are worried whether data centers will strain their utilities, and the borough can impose conditions requiring data centers to prove there will be enough of a utility, he said.
“It’s not only the rates going up, it’s the matter of capacity of all of these utilities,” he said.
Mustacchio emphasized infrastructure improvements would have to be paid for by the developer.
Like Blakely, Olyphant also administers its own electricity, and both towns stand to make a significant amount of money if they power data centers, Mustacchio said.
Olyphant will also require environmental and community impact studies that take into account residential areas, noise and utility usage, he said.
“What kind of impact this is going to have on the community as a whole, if any,” Mustacchio said.
All of the studies would be required before council would vote, he said.
Mustacchio hoped to have the ordinance adopted by the end of the year, though he is not sure if the borough will hit that timeline.
“We’re going to do our due diligence,” he said. “We take these things very seriously, and we’re going to do the best that we can for the residents.”
Originally Published: October 10, 2025 at 5:30 PM EDT