{"id":224866,"date":"2026-06-22T11:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T11:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/224866\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T11:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T11:22:08","slug":"whats-changed-in-latest-project-atlas-data-center-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/224866\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s changed in latest Project Atlas data center proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the second time in five months, the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission is looking at Project Atlas, the massive data center complex planned for South Whitehall Township<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to a draft letter to the township, the scale of this version has been reduced and numerous LVPC comments from the first review have been addressed, though some outstanding items remain.<\/p>\n

The LVPC\u2019s Comprehensive Planning Committee will review the letter at its meeting at noon Tuesday, which can be accessed virtually via lvpc.org<\/a>. If approved, it will then be taken up at Thursday\u2019s full commission meeting.<\/p>\n

Final approval for Project Atlas will be up to South Whitehall. The township\u2019s planning commission will meet July 9<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The LVPC first reviewed the the project in January<\/a>, with several members of the community pushing back on the project.<\/p>\n

Project Atlas is proposed for a 410-acre site at 2493 N. Cedar Crest Blvd., across from Parkland High School. The 1.5 million-square-foot complex includes three data center buildings, a 40,680-square-foot administrative building, a 39,167-square-foot warehouse and an electric substation.<\/p>\n

A new road is proposed to connect Cedar Crest with Mauch Chunk Road, including a 10-foot wide path that would be open to the public.<\/p>\n

The LVPC team that reviewed the project looked at how it aligned with the commission\u2019s master plan, FutureLV. It also met with external review agencies to discuss utility capacity, infrastructure considerations and other impacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe applicant has addressed numerous LVPC comments, improving the project\u2019s alignment with FutureLV: The Regional Plan, though several outstanding items remain that must be addressed,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposed development has the potential to align with FutureLV if it is designed to minimize impacts to sensitive receptors in the vicinity; if the site configuration avoids disturbing existing natural resources on the site; and if utility infrastructure is demonstrated to be adequate to meet the facility\u2019s needs without adversely affecting service to existing users.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter addressed several issues, including:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Noise: The LVPC said the applicant provided a noise study to the township that is being assessed by a consultant. The reconfigured site layout has increased the setback distance between the buildings and adjacent property lines to the north, from approximately 444 feet previously to 41,000 feet. Also,16-foot noise walls around the outdoor equipment yards are proposed, and a wall of vegetation separates the proposed development from the road and adjacent properties.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Lighting: The project would use full cutoff and fully shielded light fixtures in compliance with the township zoning ordinance, but they need to be evaluated to ensure no glare or lighting spillover affects neighboring properties.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Air quality: The applicant said that computational fluid dynamics models would be conducted to determine heat output from mechanical, electrical and plumbing equipment. The letter recommended that the applicant should pursue heating, ventilation and air conditioning system designs that convert or mitigate heat from exhaust, and the township ensure any commitments by the developer are memorialized through the review process.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Visual: The proposed landscaping may help shield the view of the development from the proposed road and adjacent properties, and the applicant provided architectural elevations for the township.<\/p>\n

Other issues included potential sinkholes on the land, environmental impact of backup generators and the use of a closed-loop cooling system,<\/p>\n

The Project Atlas data center proposal has drawn concerns from both residents and township experts due to the potential impacts it could have on students and the surrounding community. South Whitehall planners scheduled a meeting June 11 to discuss the project, but it was canceled.<\/p>\n

The July 9 meeting will be held at Springhouse Middle School to handle an anticipated large crowd.<\/p>\n

Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second time in five months, the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission is looking at Project Atlas, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,3069,433,157,182,139,9790,28,664,432],"class_list":["post-224866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-data-center","tag-lehigh-county","tag-lehigh-valley","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-parkland-area","tag-pennsylvania","tag-south-whitehall-township","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224866","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=224866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}