ALLENTOWN, Pa.- Allentown’s Zoning Hearing Board is preparing to hear a challenge related to a data center proposal.
On Monday, August 31, the board will consider the appeal of Camelot for Children, a nonprofit that provides programs and support for children with disabilities or serious medical conditions, as well as their families.
The agency at 2354 W. Emmaus Avenue is across the street from an empty, 224,000 square-foot warehouse that a developer wants to turn into a data center.
Camelot’s appeal pertains to actions that predate the submission of the plan from Quantm Group, LLC; rather, Camelot is specifically appealing an October 16, 2025, determination from a city zoning officer that a data center could be permitted as a by-right use in the General Industrial (I-3) Zoning District.
The warehouse at 2401 W. Emmaus Avenue is in that district.
A lot has happened since the zoning officer’s determination. Data centers have become a political flashpoint, with several Lehigh Valley communities coalescing in their opposition to a handful of projects across the region.
In the meantime, elected officials on the state and local levels have been taking steps to set standards for where and how data centers can be built.
Allentown City Council voted earlier this month to enact a data center ordinance that strengthened an earlier amendment adopted in June. But it came too late to have any bearing on the Quantm Group proposal.
The zoning hearing will begin at 7 p.m. on Monday at Allentown City Hall Council Chambers (435 Hamilton Street).
A special meeting was held on the W. Emmaus Avenue proposal last month, where the Allentown Planning Commission took no action. Planning Commission Chairman Christian Brown said officials are eagerly awaiting a formal resubmission from Quantm Group, which will adjust the plans based on the commission’s feedback and face further review at a future meeting.
The project is one of two data center proposals currently on the table in Allentown. The other proposal calls for a 146,000 square-foot data center at 1024 N. Bradford Street, adjacent to Coca-Cola Park.