County to hold open house on plans for Upvalley zoning collaborative

Lackawanna County wants input from Upvalley residents next week on a comprehensive plan that will guide future land use — including data centers — across five communities.

The Lackawanna County Planning Department will hold an open house on its Northern Lackawanna Comprehensive Plan on Jan. 15 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Hotel Anthracite, 25 S. Main St., Carbondale, according to an announcement from the county. The Northern Lackawanna Planning Association, or NorLack, is a zoning collaborative involving Carbondale, Carbondale Twp., Greenfield Twp., Jermyn and Mayfield. While Pennsylvania municipalities are normally required by law to allow for every type of land use somewhere within their borders, regional planning like NorLack allows participating towns to share land uses, which means if one town allows a certain industry, the other communities are no longer required to do so.

The NorLack comprehensive plan is “a master document for metropolitan growth, resiliency, and coordination” across the participating communities, according to a draft of the 95-page plan.

“The plan is an answer to a collective recognition that challenges and opportunities in the communities of these municipalities, from infrastructure investment and economic development to maintaining rural character and natural resources, are better served by a coordinated, long-term plan,” according to the draft.

Mary Liz Donato, director of the Lackawanna County Planning Department, said the county will have a presentation on the comprehensive plan that includes the results of a community survey, as well as maps, goals and objectives, with information available on poster boards for residents to review and ask questions. There will be at least one elected official from each community to answer any specific questions, she said.

State law requires certain components in the comprehensive plan, including plans for transportation, land use, economic development and open space, Donato said.

“This is the guide for the municipalities for the future, and it gives them the justification to do the land-use sharing in the zoning ordinances,” she said.

The towns have to coordinate within their boundaries while also looking at who is around them, ensuring they aren’t conflicting with their surroundings, she said.

The participating towns all accepted the draft comprehensive plan for public comment during their December meetings, Donato said. Throughout February, the borough councils and township supervisors will each hold public hearings on the plan before adopting it at their following regular meeting, Donato said.

Once the comprehensive plan goes into effect in all five towns, they are “going full force” on developing zoning ordinances guided by the plan, Donato said.

The plan features a page on data centers, addressing the rapidly growing industry that has already proposed campuses across Archbald, Clifton and Covington townships, Dickson City, Jessup and Ransom Twp.

The comprehensive plan describes data centers as “essential infrastructure that power modern digital operations, enabling the storage, processing, and transmission of data across industries.”

“As the backbone of smart technologies, e-commerce, telemedicine, education, and public services, they play a pivotal role in driving economic development, attracting tech investments, and enhancing community resilience,” according to the comprehensive plan. “Integrating data center development into the regional comprehensive plan positions the NorLACK communities to attract tech-driven businesses, support smart city initiatives, and improve public service delivery.”

They have yet to determine which municipality or municipalities will allow data centers, Donato said.

Mayfield was the first Upvalley town to regulate data centers when council voted in December to make them conditional uses along its Business Route 6 corridor. Carbondale is also looking at crafting its own data center ordinance, Donato said.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to keep it once the NorLack ordinances are in effect,” Donato said. “I’m sure that this is going to be a very hot topic of a discussion among these municipalities.”

If there is no consensus and the towns cannot agree on who will have data centers, all five towns would have to allow them, she said, explaining the towns agreed that if they cannot agree on a use, they would all have to allow it.

NorLack is the second zoning collaborative launched in Lackawanna County. In 2024, the Scranton-Abingtons Planning Association, or SAPA, zoning ordinances went into effect for Dunmore, Scranton, Clarks Green, Clarks Summit, Dalton, Newton Twp., South Abington Twp., Waverly Twp. and West Abington Twp. With another contentious land use, because Dunmore has the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, none of the other SAPA communities had to allow landfills.

Lackawanna County is also working on a North Pocono Planning Association involving Moscow borough and Covington, Elmhurst, Jefferson, Madison, Roaring Brook, Spring Brook and Thornhurst townships.

Every community must adopt their individual zoning ordinances before they go into effect, and Donato expects the NorLack towns to complete the process by the end of the year.