The data center industry proliferating through Lackawanna County is headed for the Abingtons in 2026.

Ransom Twp. is amending its zoning to define and regulate data centers as it navigates its first request for a data center on West Mountain along Newton Road, according to public notices published Dec. 20 and Tuesday in The Times-Tribune. Although the exact plans for the data center were unavailable Tuesday, it is at least the 86th data center building proposed in Lackawanna County this year across nearly a dozen campuses.

So far, the industry has largely focused on the Midvalley and North Pocono as developers seek sites near high-tension power lines, in hopes of one day tapping into the lines to fuel the vast amounts of computer hardware needed to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Archbald, Dickson City and Jessup alone have about 55 proposed data center buildings, and around 30 more are slated for a sprawling campus along Interstate 380 in Clifton and Covington townships.

However, a proposal in Ransom Twp. represents the data center industry’s first foray into the Abingtons. Property owner Scranton Materials LLC is requesting a zoning overlay to allow for a data center at its property at 819 Newton Road, according to a public notice Tuesday in The Times-Tribune. PPL Electric Utilities also has a substation nearby on West Mountain on the opposite side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Scranton Materials.

Scranton Materials describes itself on Facebook as “the premier supplier of West Mountain stone and stone products.” The company, headquartered at PO Box 127, Meshoppen, most recently published a blasting notice in The Times-Tribune in February for a noncoal surface mining operation. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration lists Scranton Materials as a surface mine.

Attempts to reach company leadership for comment were unsuccessful Tuesday.

Ransom Twp. is working through the legal process of amending its zoning ordinance to address data centers. The proposed legislation is extremely similar to Archbald’s data center zoning amendment, which borough council adopted in November.

Pennsylvania municipalities are required to allow for every type of lawful land use somewhere within their borders, which means towns can’t use zoning to outright ban data centers. At the same time, excluding data centers from zoning ordinances can open up towns to legal challenges, pressuring municipal officials to preemptively update their zoning to address the rapidly growing industry.

To maintain some local control over developments, Lackawanna County communities — including Ransom Twp. — have increasingly designated data centers as conditional uses. Ordinances like Ransom Twp.’s zoning amendment don’t approve data centers — they only establish the conditions needed for their approval while designating where they can be built.

Conditional uses establish conditions developers must adhere to, and prior to receiving approval from the municipality, they must attend a public hearing in front of borough councils or township supervisors where officials can publicly question the developer and residents can testify. Rather than rezoning land for data centers, towns like Ransom use overlays that allow data centers on top of the existing land use, which means if the data center doesn’t materialize, the land retains its original use.

Ransom’s proposed ordinance will create a data center overlay district known as the “DC District” that establishes various standards and conditions. Those include:

• Data centers must be on at least 120 acres of land in close proximity to a high voltage power transmission line or facility capable of transmitting 230 kilovolts or greater.

• Nuclear, coal and oil-powered generation is prohibited for full-time electrical generators; emergency generators may use diesel fuel, natural gas or propane.

• Data centers can be up to 120 feet tall, though they could exceed that with accessory uses such as water and cooling towers with proof the additional height is required for water pressure and fire suppression systems. Accessory buildings can be 50 feet high.

•  A minimum setback of 50 feet or the height of the building, whichever is greater, with an increased minimum setback of at least 300 feet when it’s near residential areas.

• Architectural design guidelines mandating items like screening and landscaping, as well as buffer requirements mandating a combination of berms, deciduous and evergreen plants, sound walls and horizontal green space to screen sights and sounds.

• Conditions to conduct preliminary and as-built sound studies, with the as-built study to be conducted nine months after issuance of an occupancy permit and at full occupancy of the data center, paid for by the data center. The township can also require subsequent sound studies upon request, and if there are any violations, the data center must promptly remediate them. Future sound levels cannot exceed 15 decibels above pre-construction ambient noise measured at any of its property lines.

• Public water and sewer facilities will be provided, and if the data center relies on nonpublic water sources, it must conduct a water feasibility study including calculating its projected water needs, a geologic map of the area with at least a 1-mile radius, locations of all wells within 1,000 feet, effects on nearby wells, streams and groundwater, and water recycling and release plans.

• A requirement to provide a letter of authorization from an electric service provider showing it has the capacity to power the data center.

• Preparing a campus security plan in consultation with township police and emergency management officials.

The township planning commission will hold a special meeting to review and consider recommending the zoning amendment Jan. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building, 2435 Hickory Lane, according to a Dec. 20 public notice. Township supervisors will then have to advertise and hold a public hearing prior to voting on a zoning amendment.

The township will hold a hearing for Scranton Material’s request Jan. 15 at 6 p.m. at the Municipal Building, according to Tuesday’s public notice.