The legal argument over whether a Scranton woman has standing to oppose plans for data centers in neighboring Ransom Twp. could set a precedent as Lackawanna County residents push back against developments proposed near their homes.<\/p>\n
Susan Magnotta should have standing to intervene based on the proposed data centers\u2019 proximity to her home, her attorney argues in a court petition. Scranton Materials\u2019 proposed data center campus in Ransom Twp. is about two-thirds of a mile, or the length of about eight Harrison Avenue bridges, from where Magnotta resides on Fawnwood Drive in Scranton\u2019s Keyser Valley section.<\/p>\n
Ransom Twp. does not oppose Magnotta\u2019s intervention, according to a legal brief filed last week. But Scranton Materials argues she does not have standing, in part because she does not live in the township.<\/p>\n
Residents of municipalities that border towns with proposed data centers said their effects will be felt regardless of where someone lives.<\/p>\n
Scranton Materials\u2019 plans for a six-building data center campus also hit home for Keyser Valley Neighborhood Association President Gary DiBileo. Only a stream separates the Keyser Valley section of Scranton from Scranton Materials\u2019 property off Newton Road in Ransom Twp.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause this Ransom Twp. data center bumps right up to the Scranton line, next door to our neighborhood, I believe we should have a say in this matter,\u201d he said. \u201cI understand we\u2019re Scranton and they\u2019re Ransom Twp., but we literally touch each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scranton Materials\u2019 plans could wipe out stormwater improvements city officials have made in the neighborhood, he said. Noise from a data center can travel for miles, he added.<\/p>\n
DiBileo, who is also Lackawanna County controller, has appeared at multiple hearings for proposed data center projects throughout the county.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese data centers are absolute environmental monsters that impact not only our health, but our land, our air, our noise, our water, our electricity, and the natural habitat on the West Mountain,\u201d DiBileo said.<\/p>\n
Janessa Bednash of Jermyn, a core member of the grassroots group Stop Archbald Data Centers, also believes residents of neighboring municipalities should have legal standing to oppose data center plans. The Jermyn borough solicitor advised her and her neighbors in November there was nothing they could do to formally oppose data center projects in neighboring Archbald, because the projects aren\u2019t in Jermyn.<\/p>\n
Bednash, who lives within a few miles of all of Archbald\u2019s proposed data center projects, said everyone will feel the health, economic and environmental effects if they are built.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really isn\u2019t something that stops at a town line,\u201d Bednash said. \u201cThose problems are going to spread out through the entire county.\u201d<\/p>\n
Magnotta\u2019s attorney, her daughter\u00a0Laura McGarry, argues Scranton Materials\u2019 proposed data center campus is just 3,365 feet from where Magnotta lives. The project will negatively affect the already overtaxed stormwater runoff system, causing more water to run onto Magnotta\u2019s property, McGarry says. It will also\u00a0create noise, light, air and water pollution; strain the local water and electric supply grid; increase prices for water and electricity consumption; threaten local wildlife, and decrease property values.<\/p>\n
\u201cI presently experience ongoing problems with the power to my house going out on a regular basis,\u201d Magnotta said in an affidavit included in the petition. \u201cIf the data center is constructed as proposed, the electrical problems will be exacerbated.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGarry, who also lives in Keyser Valley, filed the petition in the spring in response to Scranton Materials\u2019\u00a0appeal after Ransom Twp. rejected its data center plans. Scranton Materials argues in its appeal that the township must legally allow data centers and the township supervisors acted improperly and went against the advice of their solicitor when they dismissed the application for a zoning change that would have allowed the data center campus.\n<\/p>\n
McGarry appeared on behalf of Magnotta at hearings for the data center plans and requested the supervisors make the motion to deny the zoning change. Magnotta had no standing in the proceeding because she doesn\u2019t live close enough to Scranton Materials\u2019 property, and McGarry did not disclose that Magnotta lives in Scranton, the developer\u2019s appeal states.<\/p>\n
Ransom Twp. Solicitor William Rinaldi said in a legal brief the township Board of Supervisors does not oppose Magnotta\u2019s motion to intervene in the appeal.<\/p>\n
Scranton Materials filed a curative amendment, which challenged the validity of the township\u2019s zoning ordinance, in November to create a data center district encompassing its 251-acre property. The township supervisors voted<\/a> in January to dismiss the proposed changes due to lack of testimony and evidence from Scranton Materials.<\/p>\n Scranton Materials planned to build a data center campus with six buildings, each with a 156,648-square-foot footprint, with two stormwater management ponds, each containing around 8 million gallons of water.\n<\/p>\n