Attorneys from Joyce, Carmody & Moran P.C., which Valley View employs as its solicitor, filed the lawsuit Friday in county court. The lawsuit claims Project Gravity\u2019s plans do not meet the criteria to operate under previous zoning in Archbald that principally permitted data centers in commercially zoned land throughout the borough without needing public hearings or conditional-use approval from council.\n<\/p>\n
While Lackawanna County\u2019s data center rush was in its infancy nearly 18 months ago, Project Gravity became<\/a> one of the region\u2019s earliest proposed data center campuses. A New York City-based limited liability company tied to data center developer Western Hospitality Partners submitted a sketch plan April 2, 2025. At the time, Archbald\u2019s zoning ordinance, which the borough adopted in March 2023, was permissive of data centers without defining them, allowing their development across large swaths of town, including land zoned for general commercial uses, such as Project Gravity\u2019s proposed site.\n<\/p>\n As a principal permitted use, Project Gravity requires preliminary and final land development approval from the borough, as well as permits from the state and the Lackawanna County Conservation District. It is not subjected to conditional-use requirements and associated public hearings used to regulate other data center proposals in Archbald, such as Wildcat Ridge<\/a> and Project Green Mountain<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n The lawsuit names as defendants Archbald and its borough council, Archbald 25 Developer LLC, formerly known as Western Hospitality Partners \u2013 Jermyn LLC, 80 Broad St., 18th floor, New York City, and US Gravity Purchaser LLC. \u2018Anticipated impacts\u2019<\/p>\n To rein in the data center industry, former Archbald council members adopted a controversial<\/a> zoning amendment in November<\/a>. The amendment regulated data centers as conditional uses across overlay districts in the borough, establishing restrictions and giving council final approval over any application after public hearings where developers have to testify about how they meet established conditions. Although the legislation established safeguards, it faced opposition<\/a> from residents, who argued it was too permissive while allowing data centers in too many locations. Residents are currently challenging<\/a> the zoning amendment in court.<\/p>\n Because Project Gravity applied prior to the zoning change, the campus was considered \u201cgrandfathered\u201d under the borough\u2019s legacy zoning from March 2023, allowing it to proceed as a principal permitted use.<\/p>\n Valley View\u2019s attorneys disagree.<\/p>\n The lawsuit emphasizes Project Gravity\u2019s potential impacts on Valley View students due to its proximity to the district\u2019s intermediate, middle and high school campus on Columbus Drive, where about 2,000 students and staff attend school daily.\n<\/p>\n Attorneys Brendan N. Fitzgerald and Kyle Callejas note that on April 27, the Pennsylvania Office of Transformation and Opportunity removed the project from the PA Permit Fast Track Program, citing the developer\u2019s \u201clack of responsiveness and unwillingness to provide a transparent overview of the project.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \u2018Final denial\u2019<\/p>\n Valley View asks the court to rule in its favor on three counts against Project Gravity and Archbald:\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n 1. Project Gravity is not entitled to provisions under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code that would protect it against Archbald\u2019s data center zoning ordinance.\n<\/p>\n 2. Neither Archbald 25 nor US Gravity have vested rights to proceed under the March 2023 zoning.\n<\/p>\n 3. Archbald\u2019s zoning standards for data centers apply to US Gravity Purchaser and any plans that are substantively modified from what the developer submitted to Archbald.\n<\/p>\n Project Gravity\u2019s preliminary plans omitted key items. Although they requested waivers from the borough, neither council nor the planning commission granted the waivers, according to the lawsuit. Omissions include: a sedimentation and erosion control plan, transportation impact study, landscape plan, lighting plan and exterior building design plans required by Archbald\u2019s subdivision and land development ordinance, or SALDO. The Lackawanna County Regional Planning Commission subsequently withheld offering a recommendation on the plans on that basis, according to the lawsuit.\n<\/p>\n The attorneys believe the plans do not comply with Archbald\u2019s zoning ordinance from 2023 nor the SALDO, including for noise levels, accessory uses like a driveway and security entrance falling into a residential area, and parking.<\/p>\n \u201cA denial of the Preliminary Plan on those grounds would be a proper and final denial,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n They also challenge the Archbald Planning Commission\u2019s conditional approval of the preliminary plans Sept. 3, 2025. The planning commission did not issue a written decision stating the conditions to the applicant, nor did the applicant accept the conditions in writing within 30 days, according to the lawsuit.\n<\/p>\n If Project Gravity submits a final plan that doesn\u2019t conform to the preliminary plan, including changing the number of buildings, footprints or utility infrastructure, it should be subject to the borough\u2019s data center regulations, according to Fitzgerald and Callejas.<\/p>\n The attorneys contend neither Archbald 25 nor US Gravity Purchaser has proven why they have the right to operate under Archbald\u2019s legacy zoning. They cite provisions in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, which provides the legal framework for municipal zoning, requiring that any party seeking vested rights must prove multiple elements, including: due diligence to comply with the law; good faith throughout the proceedings; and a lack of evidence that the public health, safety and welfare would be adversely affected.\n<\/p>\n Neither entity has satisfied any of those elements, according to the lawsuit. For example, the lawsuit cites the developer cutting down trees across \u201csubstantially all of the property\u201d in February without any borough permit or stormwater coverage, its failure to address deficiencies identified by Archbald and the county planning commission, and its removal from the state\u2019s fast-track permitting.\n<\/p>\n Finally, the lawsuit asserts that US Gravity Purchaser was not the applicant on any paperwork filed in Archbald for Project Gravity, and it acquired the property in December after Archbald had adopted its regulations for data centers. As a result, any application by US Gravity Purchaser is subject to Archbald\u2019s data center zoning, Fitzgerald and Callejas wrote.<\/p>\n Archbald solicitor Jay O\u2019Connor declined to comment on active litigation. Attempts to reach Western Hospitality Partners were unsuccessful.\n<\/p>\n Western Hospitality Partners \u2013 Jermyn LLC originally entered into a memorandum of purchase and sale agreement with Five Up Realty LLC \u2014 a firm under local data center developer Jim Marzolino \u2014 for the property on Oct. 15, 2024, according to the Lackawanna County Recorder of Deeds.\n<\/p>\n Marzolino\u2019s firm then sold the Project Gravity land to Archbald 25 Developer, formerly Western Hospitality Partners \u2013 Jermyn, for $12,025,000, according to a property transaction recorded Oct. 9. Archbald 25 Developer also paid Louis and Dominick DeNaples $10 million for the rights to the \u201ccoal and or coalbed methane\u201d beneath Project Gravity, according to a deed recorded Dec. 12.\n<\/p>\n Archbald 25 Developer subsequently transferred the property to US Gravity Purchaser LLC, in the care of Affinius Capital LLC 9830 Colonnade Blvd., Suite 600, San Antonio, Texas, for $10, according to a Dec. 23 property transaction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a move that could halt development of seven data centers, the Valley View School District sued Project…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291922,"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-291921","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\/291921","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=291921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/STT-L-GRAVITY-0923-02.jpg\")
A parcel of land is shown between Eynon Jermyn Road and Business Route 6 in Archbald Tuesday, September 22, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)\n<\/p>\n