Lehigh Valley planning officials voiced concerns about the impacts that two data centers in urban areas of the Lehigh Valley could have on the surrounding neighborhoods and local environment.
On the Lehigh Valley Planning Commissioners agenda Tuesday were two proposed data center developments in the Lehigh Valley: one in Allentown and one in Bethlehem. The regional planning commission is tasked with making recommendations for cities and towns, who have the final say on whether or not land developments can go forward.
Commissioners in particular criticized a proposal for a data center application at 1024 Bradford St. in Allentown, next to Jefferson Park and Executive Education Academy Charter School.
Developer J.G. Petrucci presented plans in August for the 146,000-square-foot Allentown data center, which would include an area for an electrical substation.
Jill Seitz, LVPC chief community and regional planner, indicated in a draft letter that the submission “does not include project-specific information describing the proposed facility’s operational characteristics.”
The data center application left out critical information that planners need to properly evaluate the project, including the anticipated water and electricity demand, the method of cooling system, anticipated noise and vibration levels or generator locations.
Because of that, Seitz said, the commission cannot provide a recommendation for approval of the project, and urged Allentown not to accept the developer’s application without that information.
When the developer provides more detailed information, the plans must be resubmitted to the LVPC for review, Seitz said.
Commissioners called on the developer to resubmit the application with critical information including the data center’s anticipated cooling system method, megawatt usage and noise levels.
“When applications are submitted, it’s really important that the decision-makers have as much information as possible … so that people can make the best decision for their community,” LVPC Vice Chair Chris Amato said. “And this does not seem like it does that. It seems like it could have been done a lot better. … Public trust is so important in this process.”
The Morning Call has reached out to JG Petrucci for comment.
Unlike the Allentown applicants, the developers of the proposed Bethlehem data center at 2184 Industrial Drive, near Lehigh Valley International Airport, provided supplemental information about the data center’s impacts in a complete application.
Boyle Construction has proposed a two-story building with about 65,590 square feet per floor, a proposed substation on-site and medium-voltage equipment area.
The proposed data center would use an immersion cooling system to cool the data center’s equipment, which would require around 3 million gallons of water and 1 million gallons of glycol, which would not need to be replenished on a regular basis, planners said. It would use around 20,000 gallons of water annually after that initial “fill” for its cooling systems, according to the application.
Its anticipated peak electricity demand is 120 megawatts. Developers anticipate that approximately 20% of its power demand would be supplied by on-site natural gas generation — fueled by on-site natural gas generators which would be hooked up to a natural gas line — and 80% would be supplied by the PPL electric grid.
To service the data center, the applicants would finance approximately $70 million in electrical and utility infrastructure improvements, according to planners.
However, even though the proposal is in an industrial park and near heavily traveled Route 22, it is close enough to homes across the highway that potential additional noise and air emissions should be analyzed, Seitz said.
And although the developers provided supplemental information about the data center, more details are needed in in a future application, including how many generators are proposed on site and a comprehensive sound study, she said.
Planning commission members also voiced concerns about pollution from the natural gas generators, as well as noise and heat emissions from the cooling system.
“Just as a commissioner and as a resident in the Lehigh Valley, I would want LVPC to be tracking, you know, how much on-site generation are we approving in our local municipalities? Have a very matter-of-fact assessment like, ‘This is what we’ve allowed, and this is what is impacting our air quality,’ so that we don’t all shrug and say, ‘Well, we don’t know how this happened,’ ” commission member Brett Webber said.
Seitz said “we want to see the least impact possible” from natural gas emissions, but property owners have the right under state law to build facilities approved under local zoning laws.
Neither proposal has been evaluated by its respective local planning commission yet.
Bethlehem will hold a public hearing on the proposed Industrial Drive data center Oct. 6.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.