KING OF PRUSSIA, PA — The Upper Merion Planning Commission unanimously recommended that three of the AI data centers proposed as part of a massive cluster in the area be rejected during an uproarious public hearing Wednesday night.
The planning commission will make a recommendation on the final two proposed sites in the proposed Renaissance Park and Innovation Data Center Campus at the meeting on Aug. 12. While the planning commission's advice is typically highly influential, the township Board of Supervisors holds the final decision on all sites.
The votes Wednesday came before a packed crowd at the Upper Merion Area Middle School Auditorium, with hundreds of residents waving orange signs reading "HUGE DATA CENTERS IN UPPER MERION - ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Others called out the project's head developer by name: "I'm Brian O'Neill and I Hate Nature."
State Sen. Katie Muth, among the leaders of a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers standing against data center development, praised the planning commission "for asking the tough questions, insisting on transparency, and refusing to rubber stamp a proposal backed by powerful corporate interests."
"This project would be larger than the King of Prussia Mall, would bring around-the-clock noise, place even more strain on our electric grid, and benefit wealthy corporations while working families are left paying higher utility bills," Muth added.
All three parts of the Renaissance project considered, 2100 Renaissance Blvd, 3200 Horizon Dr, and the 2201–2901 Renaissance Blvd cluster, were rejected with a unanimous 4-0 vote.
"All three plan sets, as they stand today, still have deficiencies," said Matt Popek, the planning commission chair.
The planning commission cited numerous issues in the applications, but common threads were missing sound and acoustic study data, vague lighting plans, the size of the buildings, unclear details on the building setback from local properties, stormwater management issues, and lack of clarity on energy output and generator details. Commissioners pressed repeatedly for estimates on total counts of generators, megawatt totals, and more, and the developers were not able to provide concrete figures.
Officials also took issue with the sheer size of the project.
"It's just too much," vice chair Mark McKee said. "The scale is too much."
The meeting comes amid growing, bipartisan opposition to AI data center development not just in King of Prussia, but across the state and country. About 74 percent of Pennsylvania residents oppose building AI data centers, according to the latest Quinnipiac University polling, while 84 percent show it no support.
But projects are still moving forward in part due to a lack of regulation at the state level, and the deep relationship between companies like Amazon and Gov. Josh Shapiro. Shapiro's latest budget all but ignored data centers, and his administration, along with a slew of leading Democrats, have ignored bipartisan pressure to pass a three center data center moratorium.
O'Neill himself has lobbied the Shapiro administration to put together legislation that would require anyone who wants to appeal a data center project to post a bond that is worth double the cost of the project, according to emails obtained in a Right to Know request by the advocacy group Concerned Citizens of Montour County.
The next planning commission hearing is set for Aug. 12 at the Upper Merion Middle School auditorium. The commission will make a recommendation there on the final two MLP Ventures projects in the cluster, 600 River Road and 411 Swedeland Road.
The deadline for the Board of Supervisors to make a final decision on all five applications is Aug. 13.
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