Allentown is holding its first official review of a proposed data center this week.
The city planning commission is holding a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in City Council chambers to review plans for a data center at 2401 W. Emmaus Ave. in south Allentown.
The data center plans were originally set to be reviewed June 9 at a regular planning commission meeting, but developers withdrew their application after an outpouring of community pushback.
City planners scheduled the Thursday meeting in order to accommodate what is expected to be a packed room of local residents mostly in opposition to the plans. Planners could approve, reject or table the plans.
The planning commission in 2022 approved a 224,000-square-foot warehouse on the Emmaus Avenue site, and developers broke ground on construction in 2024.
However, the developers — listed as Quantm Group LLC on the meeting’s agenda — have applied for a 23,342-square-foot addition to the building in order to convert it into a data center.
Although little else is known about the plans, residents are already voicing opposition; an online petition to oppose its construction had garnered more than 4,300 signatures on change.org.
The proposed data center is next to homes, local businesses and Camelot, a nonprofit that helps chronically and terminally ill children.
Data center opponents argue the facilities cause excessive noise, drive up energy prices and pollute local waterways, and therefore do not belong near neighborhoods.
Lehigh Valley Stands Up, a local activist organization, has issued a “call to action” on its social media, urging people to show up Thursday to oppose the data center.
Residents have also voiced their opposition to the proposal at Allentown City Council meetings, though the council is not responsible for approving such development plans.
Allentown City Council in June approved an ordinance that would regulate where data centers may be developed.
The new zoning ordinance allows data centers in two of the city’s three “industrial” zoning districts. Data centers are permitted by “special exception” only, which means that each proposal receives a public hearing and vote by the city’s zoning hearing board.
Under the ordinance, data centers are not allowed within 75 feet of the right of way of a public street, or 200 feet of any residential, civic or childcare areas. The ordinance also requires robust landscaping around the perimeter, and thorough environmental, noise and waterway studies and reviews from the developer before any approval from the city.
However, the new ordinance does not apply to the Emmaus Avenue data center proposal, because it was submitted before the ordinance was approved.
City Council is also reviewing amendments to strengthen the new ordinance, following pushback from residents who said it does not do enough to protect them from potential harms caused by data centers. Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 5 to vote on several amendments.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.