asks the court to declare the township\u2019s zoning ordinance exclusionary to data centers<\/a>, and as relief, to allow the development of data centers on 251 acres of Scranton Materials\u2019 property.
\n![\"Members](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/STT-L-RANSOMTWPPLANNINGMEETING-01.jpg\")
Members of the Ransom Twp. Planning Commission hear from members of the public at a special meeting Monday, March 23, 2026. They discussed a proposed ordinance defining and regulating data centers in the township during the meeting. (Christine Lee\/Staff Photo)\n<\/p>\nMunicipalities in Pennsylvania must allow for every type of lawful land use somewhere within their borders, and failing to do so exposes local governments to legal challenges for exclusionary zoning.\n<\/p>\n
To remedy exclusionary zoning, property owners can submit a curative amendment where they propose their own zoning standards to allow for what they believe is unlawfully excluded land use.\n<\/p>\n
In Scranton Materials\u2019 case, the quarry\u2019s attorney argues that Ransom Twp.\u2019s 2018 zoning ordinance is exclusionary because it does not define or classify any data center uses, and township supervisors refused to comply with the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, or MPC, according to the lawsuit.\n<\/p>\n
The MPC provides the legal framework for municipal zoning.\n<\/p>\n
Both legal challenges are ongoing.<\/p>\n
The ordinance discussed Monday states that data centers are allowed in the township\u2019s manufacturing zones. The curative amendment proposed by Scranton Materials would have created a data center overlay district in the township that encompassed Scranton Materials\u2019 property. The ordinance also requires buildings be 35 feet, rather than 120 feet in the curative amendment, and setbacks of 200 feet, compared to 50 feet in the curative amendment. The proposed ordinance also does not require a water feasibility study if the data center relies on nonpublic water sources.\n<\/p>\n
Murphy said at the meeting the commission picked apart Scranton Materials\u2019 overlay ordinance, which covered its property.<\/p>\n
The commission did not vote on the proposed ordinance during the meeting. A date it will be voted on has not been determined.<\/p>\n
Ordinance requirements<\/p>\n
The proposed ordinance would require data center developers to:\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Have all principal and accessory structures be arranged, designed and constructed to be harmonious and compatible with the site and surrounding properties, with campuses containing more than one building encouraged to provide a variety in building size, massing, siting and appearance.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Be permitted by conditional use in the township\u2019s M-1 and M-2 Manufacturing districts, with data centers not allowed in residential districts and conservation areas.<\/p>\n
\u2022 All principal buildings, accessory structures and utility substations set back at least 200 feet from all property lines.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Be connected to public water and sewer if available.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Buildings be no higher than 35 feet, with a maximum lot size of 50 acres.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Noise generated not exceed 60 decibels at the boundary of the property.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Lighting from the data center shall be directed downward and can\u2019t be projected toward neighboring properties.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Fences shall not exceed 6 feet.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Substations must include year-round opaque landscaping or a screen wall a minimum of 10 feet high. Data center developers are encouraged to bury power lines; on-site power lines of 34.5 kilovolts and below must be buried.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Provide 24-hour emergency contact signage at the entrance.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Provide a 150-foot landscaped buffer.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Provide an environmental and community impact analysis prior to the hearing and perform an Environmental Impact Assessment, environmental surveys addressing wildlife and migratory bird activity, and a stormwater and watershed impact study. Facilities withdrawing more than 50,000 gallons of water are also required to submit a hydrogeologic impact study demonstrating no adverse impact to nearby wells, groundwater resources or surface waters.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Submit annual compliance reports documenting its environmental performance, and an independent environmental and operational compliance review every five years after operations begin, and an independent Hazard and Emergency Response Capability Assessment.<\/p>\n
\u2022 A decommissioning plan with the application.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Provide notice of its intent to discontinue if the developer plans to do so.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Ensure adequate radio coverage for first responders and an emergency response assessment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RANSOM TWP. \u2014 Officials are revising zoning to address data centers as the township deals with lawsuits from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2116,201,182,139,28,4373,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-147255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-data-centers","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-ransom-township","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}