In any contest of wills, momentum matters. The more consistently one side imposes its will upon the other and capitalizes on its opponent\u2019s mistakes, the sooner a decisive tipping point is reached.<\/p>\n
Ask any Buffalo Bills fan. (Too soon?)<\/p>\n
The mushrooming momentum against invasive data center development dominated last week\u2019s news. Up and down the valley, citizens turned out in droves to protest projects proposed in their home and neighboring communities.<\/p>\n
The resistance is real, regional and increasingly impossible for elected officials to overlook. Politicians who were previously pumped about bringing the \u201cAI Revolution\u201d to a backyard near you are walking back the happy talk about abundant jobs, tax windfalls and other wonders with no guarantees. Officials who initially kept mostly quiet are now feeling the pressure to speak up.<\/p>\n
Not known for their close fraternal bonds, Democratic Lackawanna County Commissioners Bill Gaughan and Chairman Thom Welby both expressed skepticism at Wednesday\u2019s board meeting. Gaughan rightly floated the notion of state legislation that would allow host counties to recover costs associated with burdens on local infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Welby said Gaughan was \u201cspot-on.\u201d (I\u2019m not making that up.) The chairman acknowledged the public resistance to invasive data center development and echoed its rallying cry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real power lies in the individuals, and certainly making your noise to all of your elected officials is critically important, but it\u2019s also critically important that you \u2026 stand up, to make your voice clear,\u201d Welby said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is your local zoning and your local municipalities that are making these determinations and there should not be even a question, there shouldn\u2019t be a conversation, about a data center being located in any area near residences. I mean they do not belong in neighborhoods, and I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anybody up here that disagrees with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
As usual, MAGA Republican Commissioner Co-chairman Chris Chermak boldly took the middle path. While noting the jobs and tax gains data centers could bring, Chermak told<\/a> Sunday Times Staff Writer Jeff Horvath they shouldn\u2019t be built in residential areas or draw from the drinking water supply. Chermak said he is neither for nor against data centers. Yet.<\/p>\n State Sen. Marty Flynn, state Rep. Jim Haddock, Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and Lackawanna County Controller Gary DiBileo joined about 200 \u201ccivilians\u201d in packing the garage of the Ransom Twp. Municipal Building for a Tuesday hearing on a proposed zoning \u201coverlay\u201d amendment that would allow a data center \u201ccampus\u201d on West Mountain.<\/p>\n DiBileo was there as president of the Keyser Valley Neighborhood Association, representing one of the most flood-prone sections of Scranton. He and his neighbors know what runs downhill. Mayor Cognetti was also registered to speak as an objector, but didn\u2019t get the opportunity after Laura McGarry, an attorney and resident of the Fawnwood development in Keyser Valley, took the garage floor.<\/p>\n As in the hearing\u2019s first installment, McGarry raised worthy questions about the legitimacy of the hearing process, but her strongest case in round two on Tuesday was essentially that the lawyers for developer Scranton Materials LLC made no case at all. They presented no witnesses for cross-examination, no supporting materials and no details beyond the concept drawings sketching out the plan.<\/p>\n McGarry argued that supervisors had no business considering a zoning \u201coverlay\u201d that would reward the failure of the developer\u2019s legal representation to make a presentation worthy of an amendment. Two supervisors agreed, and the amendment was denied to raucous applause from the crowd.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they (Scranton Materials) just weren\u2019t expecting the fight that the people were prepared to give,\u201d resident Nikki Bencho told<\/a> Sunday Times Staff Writer Christine Lee after the hearing.<\/p>\n That was abundantly clear, but Scranton Materials almost will certainly seek a \u201ccurative amendment\u201d on the grounds that Ransom\u2019s zoning ordinance is unconstitutional because it doesn\u2019t allow data centers. In legal terms, this ain\u2019t over.<\/p>\n