{"id":283100,"date":"2026-09-10T16:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/283100\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T16:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T16:26:10","slug":"archbald-council-to-decide-wildcat-ridges-fate-as-data-center-hearings-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/283100\/","title":{"rendered":"Archbald council to decide Wildcat Ridge’s fate as data center hearings end"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARCHBALD \u2014 The fate of Lackawanna County\u2019s most contentious data center campus is now in the hands of Archbald Borough Council.\n<\/p>\n

Arguments concluded Wednesday night after more than seven months, nine hearings, 20-plus hours of testimony and widespread public opposition to the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus.\n<\/p>\n

Archbald\u2019s seven council members now have 45 days to decide whether to approve Brooklyn-based Cornell Realty Management LLC\u2019s application for more than 2.8 million square feet of data centers across 574-plus mountainside acres above Eynon and Sturges.\n<\/p>\n

Attorneys for the data center developer attempted to force the removal<\/a> of the seven<\/a> council members last month by filing motions alleging that everyone on council is biased against their project, or at least appears biased. The allegations<\/a> cited comments made during hearings, social media activity and remarks predating some members\u2019 time in office.<\/p>\n

The borough denied six of the recusal motions Wednesday before moving into the final stages of the hearing. At the start of the meeting, Solicitor Jay O\u2019Connor announced that the six council members in attendance refused to recuse themselves, contending they can decide on the application fairly and impartially. In conjunction with their refusals to remove themselves from the proceedings, the six council members submitted affidavits signed Wednesday affirming their impartiality. Council Vice President Joseph Altier III and council members Larry Marchetti, Madonna Munley, Lisa Osborne, Erin Owen and Larry West all signed the affidavits. The only missing affidavit is council President Louis Rapoch, who O\u2019Connor said was out of town.<\/p>\n

Rapoch confirmed in a text Wednesday night that he plans to sign his own affidavit.\n<\/p>\n

\"Archbald<\/p>\n

Archbald councilmembers listen to a borough resident speak during the hearing on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus at Valley View High School in Archbald Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Archbald<\/p>\n

Archbald councilmembers listen to borough residents speak during the hearing on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus at Valley View High School in Archbald Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People listen to the hearing on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus at Valley View High School in Archbald Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Archbald<\/p>\n

Archbald councilwoman Lisa Osborne listens to data center attorneys speak during the hearing on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus at Valley View High School in Archbald Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Archbald<\/p>\n

Archbald resident Amy Gaughan speaks during the hearing on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus at Valley View High School in Archbald Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Jermyn<\/p>\n

Jermyn resident John Kura speaks during the hearing on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus at Valley View High School in Archbald Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Archbald<\/p>\n

Archbald resident Amy Swingle speaks during the hearing on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus at Valley View High School in Archbald Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Attorney<\/p>\n

Attorney Lucas Liben looks on during the hearing on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus at Valley View High School in Archbald Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

\"Attorney<\/p>\n

Attorney Edmund Campbell speaks during the hearing on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus at Valley View High School in Archbald Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 9<\/p>\n

Archbald councilmembers listen to a borough resident speak during the hearing on the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus at Valley View High School in Archbald Wednesday, September 9, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s meeting concluded a hearing process that formally began when Cornell Realty Management submitted<\/a> a 777-page conditional use application<\/a> Dec. 15, signed by managing partner Isaac Hager. The document revealed the data center campus\u2019s massive water and electricity demands, requesting to use just over 3.3 million gallons of water per day during the hottest summer weather while requiring 1.6 gigawatts \u2014 more electricity than Lackawanna County\u2019s largest power plant can produce. To power its data centers during an outage, the campus would rely on 588 bus-sized diesel generators<\/a>, sustained by nearly 1.2 million gallons of diesel fuel stored onsite.\n<\/p>\n

Officials with Wildcat Ridge approached Archbald council during a January 2025 work session touting<\/a> a $2.1 billion investment. Over the last year, it has emerged as a controversial project due to its size, location and utility demands.<\/p>\n

The data center campus would consist of 14 two-story, 80-foot tall data centers, each with a 202,340-square-foot footprint, making it the largest proposed in the county based on total building size. The data centers would line the mountainside above Eynon and Sturges, following Business Route 6 and extending more than half a mile up Route 247, or Wildcat Road.\n<\/p>\n

The undeveloped mountainside is zoned for residential and conservation uses, but a previous council majority adopted a zoning ordinance last year conditionally allowing data centers in an overlay district on the mountain. The decision received major pushback<\/a> from residents, who urged council at the time to restrict developments to industrial land east of the Casey Highway.\n<\/p>\n

While the ordinance enacted standards for data centers that gave the borough additional control and protections, it conditionally permitted the developments in overlay districts throughout the borough, including along Eynon Jermyn Road near Archbald\u2019s Staback Park and the Archbald Pothole State Park. All four council members who voted in favor of the legislation have since left office, with former President Dave Moran, Vice President Richard Guman and Councilwoman Marie Cooke Andreoli resigning<\/a> in April after more than 800 residents signed a petition calling for the removal of borough officials who worked with data center developers \u2014 including Wildcat Ridge representatives \u2014 to craft the town\u2019s data center zoning ordinance. Former Councilman Francis Burke lost his bid for reelection last year.\n<\/p>\n

With about 350 people filling the Valley View High School auditorium, Wednesday\u2019s hearing encompassed the final six speakers to conclude public comment, followed by closing arguments from Wildcat Ridge attorney Edmund J. Campbell Jr., Stop Archbald Data Centers co-founder Tamara Misewicz-Healey and attorney Justin Richards, who represents Stop Archbald Data Centers members challenging Archbald\u2019s data center zoning.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Council will announce the date when they will vote on the application, and they will issue a written decision within 45 days, O\u2019Connor said.<\/p>\n

Check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARCHBALD \u2014 The fate of Lackawanna County\u2019s most contentious data center campus is now in the hands of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2117,2116,201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-283100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-archbald","tag-data-centers","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","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\/283100","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=283100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}