{"id":180639,"date":"2026-04-30T21:49:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/180639\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T21:49:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:49:30","slug":"developer-appeals-denial-to-build-four-dickson-city-data-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/180639\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer appeals denial to build four Dickson City data centers"},"content":{"rendered":"

DICKSON CITY \u2014 A local data center developer appealed to the borough zoning hearing board Wednesday night to overturn the denial of four data centers across Bell Mountain \u2014 including one on the Circle Drive-In\u2019s property and another the borough solicitor argues is in a residential area \u2014 though the drive-in\u2019s president emphasized Thursday neither the theater nor its flea market would be impacted.\n<\/p>\n

Dickson City Development LLC, a firm linked to Kriger Construction Inc., filed four zoning permit applications on Jan. 13 to construct four data centers spanning a roughly 1.5-mile stretch of Bell Mountain above Business Route 6.\n<\/p>\n

Coinciding with the data centers, limited liability companies affiliated with Kriger Construction applied last month to build at least three power plants<\/a> on Bell Mountain above the data centers. The power plants were not part of Wednesday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n

Dickson City Development and limited liability companies for the power plants, named Dickson City Power One, Dickson City Power Two and Dickson City Power Three, all filed applications using the address 99 Power Blvd., Archbald, which is the same address as Kriger Construction and its affiliated NEPA Asphalt & Concrete plant. Kriger Vice President David Stiles signed all four data center applications, and his email address with Kriger Construction\u2019s phone number are the provided contact information in the power plant applications. Three $575 checks attached to the power plants\u2019 zoning hearing applications are from Kriger Construction.\n<\/p>\n

Kriger\u2019s president, Jim Marzolino, is also looking to build a nearly 620,000-square-foot data center called \u201cProject Boson\u201d on Eynon Jermyn Road in Archbald, and across the street from Boson, he applied to build a 400-megawatt power plant. Archbald held its first hearing on the power plant Monday.<\/a><\/p>\n

Where are the data centers?<\/p>\n

Dickson City\u2019s zoning hearing Wednesday focused solely on the four Bell Mountain data centers.<\/p>\n

The data centers would be located on four properties, with footprints ranging from just shy of 108,000 square feet to 147,000 square feet, according to the applications. From west to east, those are:<\/p>\n

\u2022 A 147,000-square-foot footprint data center near residences on Bell Mountain just east of McLean Street. The land is owned by Mountainview DC Realty LLC, 859 Enterprise St., Dickson City. Dickson City Solicitor Bill Jones argued Wednesday that this data center falls into a single-family residential zone, not the highway commercial zone the developer cited in its application.<\/p>\n

\u2022 A 107,820-square-foot footprint data center just above Cold Spring Road on land owned by Fore Up Realty, 859 Enterprise St., Dickson City. Marzolino most recently signed an assignment of rents and leases as the manager of Fore Up last year, according to the document recorded with the Lackawanna County Recorder of Deeds on March 25, 2025.<\/p>\n

\u2022 A 147,000-square-foot footprint data center on the Circle Drive-In\u2019s property above Business Route 6. Scranton Circle Drive In Company Inc., 11 Hendrick Lane, Carbondale, owns the property.<\/p>\n

\u2022A 147,000-square-foot footprint on a parcel east of the drive-in on land owned by HFS Realty, 1501 Albright Ave., Scranton.<\/p>\n

Why were they denied?<\/p>\n

Zoning Officer James Damski denied all four applications on Feb. 17, according to a public notice published April 22 in The Times-Tribune.<\/p>\n

Damski\u2019s denial cited two reasons: insufficient plans and a then-pending ordinance regulating data centers that prohibited their development on the commercially zoned land above Business Route 6. Zoning Hearing Board Chairman Fred Kohl read Damski\u2019s denial letter into the record at the start of the hearing. The letter described multiple deficiencies in the applications, including failing to sufficiently define what they are requesting as a use for the site and not identifying how the uses will transpire, such as water, energy and number of employees, according to Damski.<\/p>\n

The core zoning issue surrounds Dickson City\u2019s previous zoning terminology and a zoning amendment adopted Feb. 12 that regulated data centers as special exceptions in the borough\u2019s manufacturing district, encompassing Enterprise Street near Eagle Lane and undeveloped land southeast of Railroad Street.<\/p>\n

Prior to the amendment, the borough\u2019s zoning ordinance permitted \u201cdata processing and record storage\u201d facilities in its highway commercial zones, which include the land immediately above Business Route 6. Dickson City Development\u2019s attorneys believe \u201cdata processing and record storage\u201d includes data centers, while borough officials disagree. Dickson City initiated the zoning amendment process in November, and borough officials contend a pending ordinance doctrine allows them to apply those new restrictions to any applications received between November and Feb. 12 when council adopted the zoning amendment.<\/p>\n

What happened Wednesday?<\/p>\n

Attorney Michael Mey of Dunmore-based Mey & Sulla LLP appealed the denials on behalf of Dickson City Development LLC, prompting Wednesday\u2019s hearing.<\/p>\n

Mey and Jones, who represented the borough, verbally sparred throughout the night, spending much of the two-and-a-half-hour hearing arguing over maps, debating the qualifications of one of Mey\u2019s subject matter experts to address the data center sites on maps, the accuracy and validity of Dickson City zoning maps displayed during the presentation, the size of the plans submitted to the borough, and where Dickson City Development obtained the zoning map that served as the foundation for its applications.<\/p>\n

Mey called two witnesses throughout the night: Stiles, who cited his role at Kriger and 20 years of experience in construction, and Jennifer Leonard, a senior program manager and practice leader at Mechanicsburg-based KCI Technologies who oversaw the preparation of the applications and plans. The two provided testimony on the deficiencies referenced in the denial.<\/p>\n

During cross examination, Jones brought out a large zoning map and asked Leonard to draw the locations of the four sites on it. Leonard did so, although Mey objected. Zoning hearing board Solicitor Frank Marcin assured Mey the board would not consider Leonard\u2019s hand-drawn sites to be scale.<\/p>\n

As Leonard plotted the location of the westernmost data center on Mountainview\u2019s property, Jones indicated that it actually fell into a single-family residential zone.<\/p>\n

Leonard acknowledged the residential zone, saying, \u201cThis map doesn\u2019t match what was electronically pulled off of record drawings online.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you say,\u201d Jones replied. \u201cAnd I would object as hearsay, and I guess you should\u2019ve brought that (map) in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones also latched onto a discrepancy in the property size of that data center site where one of its parcels actually encompasses 200-plus acres and extends into a residential open space zone. Stiles said they are only using a portion of the property; Jones pointed out their application did not specify it was using \u201cpart of\u201d the parcel.<\/p>\n

Mey concluded Dickson City Development\u2019s presentation by directly addressing the board, telling borough zoners that Leonard\u2019s testimony addressed every deficiency in the denial. He also contended that Dickson City\u2019s data center zoning amendment did not contain language repealing anything from the previous ordinance, meaning it only allowed data centers in the manufacturing zone without removing \u201cdata processing and record storage\u201d from the land above Business Route 6.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur position is we believe that the zoning officer, respectfully, was wrong when he said that the pending zoning ordinance applied and was wrong when he said that the plans that were given to him were insufficient for his ability to evaluate,\u201d Mey said.<\/p>\n

The board opted to continue the hearing before Jones presented Dickson City\u2019s case. The hearing will resume May 21.<\/p>\n

What about the drive-in?<\/p>\n

Some of the residents packing Dickson City\u2019s council chambers audibly gasped after realizing Leonard drew a data center outline directly over the 77-year-old Circle Drive-In\u2019s property, using a yellow highlighter to draw a rectangle roughly in the center of the theater\u2019s grounds and concession building.<\/p>\n

Drive-in President Joseph Calabro emphasized Thursday, \u201cThere is no plan to sell or to change what\u2019s happening at the Circle Drive-In theater in the current business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calabro took over the business six years ago after the February 2020 death of his uncle, lifelong Carbondale resident, business owner and philanthropist Michael Delfino, who acquired the drive-in in 1969.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to clarify at the meeting that occurred yesterday at Dickson City, from what I am told, there was a perception that the Circle Drive-In theater property, and the business would be a potential future site for the data center,\u201d Calabro said. \u201cHowever, I\u2019m clearly stating that there is no plan to change the current business at the Circle Drive-In theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calabro pointed to a 49-acre undeveloped parcel behind the drive-in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan was that the undeveloped area behind the drive-in is the goal for potentially having a data center or other development,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Plans for one of the proposed power plants fall into that property. Asked whether the developments could impact his business\u2019s operations, Calabro assured, \u201cWe have looked into that, and we have no concern that, in order to continue to operate a drive-in theater and flea market, that there would be any negative implications at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The drive-in and flea market are open for business, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worry that a longstanding community business that has been around for decades will be closing is not true,\u201d Calabro said.<\/p>\n

The zoning hearing board will resume the hearing May 21 at 5 p.m. in the Dickson City Borough Building, 901 Enterprise St.<\/p>\n

\"AttorneyAttorney Michael Mey, left, looks on as Dickson City Solicitor Bill Jones instructs subject matter witness Jennifer Leonard to draw data center sites on a map during a zoning hearing Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at the Dickson City Borough Building. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)
\n\"(Left(Left to right) Dickson City Development LLC attorney Michael Mey, senior program manager Jennifer Leonard of KCI Technologies and Kriger Construction Vice President David Stiles prepare for their presentation during a zoning hearing Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at the Dickson City Borough Building. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)
\n\"ResidentsResidents gather for a zoning hearing Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at the Dickson City Borough Building. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)
\n\"DicksonDickson City Solicitor Bill Jones, standing, speaks during a zoning hearing Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at the Dickson City Borough Building. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)
\n\"AA marked-up zoning map showing the locations of data centers during a zoning hearing Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at the Dickson City Borough Building. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)
\n\"DicksonDickson City Development subject matter expert Jennifer Leonard draws a data center site on a zoning map as Dickson City Solicitor Bill Jones spectates during a zoning hearing Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at the Dickson City Borough Building. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY \/ STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DICKSON CITY \u2014 A local data center developer appealed to the borough zoning hearing board Wednesday night to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[182,139,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-180639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-local-news","tag-news","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\/180639","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=180639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}