More Than 1,000 Residents Pack Upper Merion Hearing In Stand Against Data Centers

UPPER MERION, PA — More than a thousand residents packed Freedom Hall in Upper Merion on Wednesday night and hundreds more filled adjacent meeting areas and the lawn outside to stand against a proposal to build a massive cluster of eight data centers in the township.

The plan, backed by local real estate developer Brian O'Neill and MLP Ventures, calls for more than 4 million square feet of development, larger than the footprint of the Philadelphia Airport.

Inside a crowded, hot hearing room with a struggling air conditioner, residents expressed a range of emotions, from shock and anger at the sheer scale of the proposal, to disbelief at the bureaucracy — and the lack of — which allowed the proposal to circumvent the recent and stringent data center ordinance passed by the township.

"I ask of you, whose needs was this drafted to fit?" one woman said incredulously.

"We do not consent," another man roared.

O'Neill, who has coordinated on data center proposals with Gov. Shapiro's administration and has lobbied for taking away the right to appeal, argued during the meeting that proposal would bring tax revenue and jobs.

In response to the proximity of the project to local homes, O'Neill also repeatedly stated that data centers would be "quiet." Attendees met the claim with incredulity.

"Why poke around southeast PA, when he'd be chatting up the absolute richest man in the world with his marvel of engineering?" another resident said. "...the answer of course, is that he doesn't hold the silver bullet."

Lines of questioning by township officials unveiled that the total energy consumption would be about 900 MW, or enough, as Food and Water Watch organizer Ginny Kerslake said, to power about 1 million homes.

Of even greater concern to some was what they saw as a glossing over of environmental concerns.

"When questioned about cooling methods and water consumption, the developer supplied no real answers," Kerslake said.

The group Upper Merion Data Centers, which has organized opposition to the plan, said they estimated anywhere from 1,000 to 1,200 people in attendance between the crowds inside and outside. The actual hearing room, with a maximum capacity of just a few hundred, was packed to the brim.

More than 10,000 people have signed the group's petition to defeat the proposal.

With opposition from elected officials on both sides of aisle and near unanimous opposition from residents, locals have consistently expressed disbelief that the proposal has even been brought forth. The township did pass a strict ordinance regulating data centers recently, but because O'Neill submitted the proposal before that ordinance came in, the township said they were required by law to consider it.

"Pennsylvania law dictates that projects must be reviewed under the zoning regulations in effect at the same time of filing," Upper Merion Township's Board of Supervisors said in a public statement last week.

The Board also cited the state's Municipalities Planning Code of 1968, stating that they are legally required to hear proposals on all land use. Though the MPC was passed long before data centers existed, it has been interpreted broadly by courts and has become a central mechanism for developers to get hearings. This happens even when large majorities of residents and elected officials are opposed.

The biggest of the eight proposed centers is a grouping of four on 2201, 2301, 2501, 2701, and 2901 Renaissance Boulevard. Another 370,000 square foot proposal is about a quarter mile away on 3200 Horizon Drive, while a 1.6 million square foot project Innovation 511 is on 411 Swedeland Road, and a 450,000 square foot project is on the Schuylkill River about a mile and a half to the east at 600 River Road.

Several planning commission hearings are expected in the coming months to handle the proposal, evidence, and testimony from developers. Wednesday night was just the first.

A date for the next hearing not yet been scheduled.