PECKVILLE, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) — Archbald Borough community members are speaking out on various issues, but one stood out at the candidate roundtable: Data centers.
The Archbald Neighborhood Association held a community roundtable October 21 at the Valley Community Library.
The roundtable gave residents a chance to hear directly from the candidates running for Archbald Borough mayor and council.
It also invited public participation, with community members submitting questions and sharing concerns on key local issues.
When asked about the issues that matter most, Archbald Borough residents identified data center development as their top concern.
Council candidate Marie Cook Andreoli (D) addressed the topic, referring to a proposed ordinance to regulate data centers that failed to pass during a recent council meeting. She emphasized her commitment to pushing for a new ordinance moving forward.
“We can’t go backwards. We can then put in a new ordinance, which is what we tried to do. But it died for lack of a second. My thing is, let’s put that ordinance through again. Vote on it. And then make stronger conditions for the data centers to come in,” said Andreoli.
Council candidate Bruce Walder (R) and mayoral candidate Shirley Barrett (D) voiced their opposition to data centers being built near residential areas. While both emphasized their concerns, they acknowledged there’s no guarantee the projects will ultimately be halted.
“Nobody really knows the side effect of them, other than they make noise. So, my stance with that would be. On the other side of Casey Highway, we have industrial areas. Let them build up there,” said Walder.
“Am I for them? I don’t like them coming in. I wish they never came anywhere in Lackawanna County. But, can we stop them? That, I don’t know. And Archbald, hopefully there’s something legal that we might be able to stop the ones closer to the residences. I never want to see anything near our residential section,” said Barrett.
Attending the candidate roundtable, Archbald resident Anthony Distler told us about his concerns for potential data centers being placed in the borough.
“My biggest concern, and I’m sure the concern of a lot of people, is just the amount of natural resources that takes place to operate these large data centers. It seems like Archibald has a history of large companies coming in, taking the natural resources and then leaving and leaving nothing behind for the people of Archbald. And so, I get concerned about any sort of company coming in here that wishes to use our land and our water and our resources and our power to be able to run these things and getting nothing in return for,” said Distler.
The next Archbald Borough Council meeting is scheduled for November 19.