A standing-room-only crowd packed a Clinton Township meeting in Wayne County last week as residents voiced strong opposition to the possibility of a large-scale data center development in the rural community.
The proposal, which includes a data center and power-generating facility, has sparked concerns about environmental impacts, noise, water use and the future character of the township.
“We don’t exactly know” the full scope of the proposal yet, said Liam Mayo, editor of The River Reporter, during an interview with Radio Catskill.
Mayo said an application was submitted to the Clinton Township Planning Commission on April 30, ahead of a May 7 meeting. However, commissioners delayed formal consideration of the project until next month because they had not been given the statutorily required 10 days to review the application.
“There were several representatives from the project there, but they also didn’t present anything specific about the project then,” Mayo said. “They’re going to present more details at the next planning commission meeting in a month’s time.”
Even without detailed plans publicly available, residents turned out in force to oppose the concept of a data center in the township. Mayo estimated attendance at between 200 and 300 people.
The meeting had to be moved from the township’s usual meeting room into a larger pole barn to accommodate the crowd, with garage doors opened so people could spill outside.
“Those two to 300 people were the number of people that could be gathered on very short notice,” Mayo said, noting many residents had only learned about the meeting days earlier.
Residents cited concerns ranging from light and noise pollution to water consumption and environmental degradation.
“One Clinton Township resident, Bill Weisman, called it ‘a sadness that is spreading across Northeastern Pennsylvania,’” Mayo said, referring to similar data center proposals elsewhere in the region, including in Archbald.
According to Mayo, residents also worried about impacts on nearby hunting camps and recreational facilities, including Camp Freedom, which hosts outdoor activities for veterans with PTSD.
“People are very aware of what the overall impact of a data center coming into the community is, and they were very alarmed about those impacts,” Mayo said.
At the same time the project application was submitted, township supervisors began considering a six-month moratorium on data center development while drafting an ordinance regulating such facilities.
Mayo said some residents fear the developer may argue the proposal was submitted before any ordinance takes effect and therefore would not be subject to future restrictions.
The draft ordinance has been forwarded to the township and county planning commissions for review before returning to the Board of Supervisors for possible adoption.
Another public meeting on the proposed zoning amendments regulating data centers is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 13, at the Clinton Township Supervisors meeting in Forest City, Pennsylvania.
Mayo said much of the public opposition stems from fears that industrial-scale development could permanently alter the rural landscape that drew residents to the area in the first place.
“A couple of people said that they had moved up to Northeastern Pennsylvania specifically to get away from areas that were being actively overdeveloped decades ago,” Mayo said. “They were saying, ‘I’m too old to move. I’m going to fight for this place.’”
He added that many residents were not simply seeking stricter regulations.
“The tenor of the crowd was more like, ‘We just want these things to not happen here,’” Mayo said.
Image: Former Clinton Township Board of Supervisors Chair James Zeffran holds up information from Trout Unlimited during a Thursday, May 7 meeting of the Clinton Township Planning Commission. (Liam Mayo/River Reporter)