A fight over a proposed data center in the Philadelphia suburbs has become a sharp example of the tensions playing out across the country as communities push back on big tech infrastructure projects.
Developer Brian O’Neill wants to build a 2 million-square-foot data center in a former steel plant in Plymouth Township, Montgomery County. The township developed a 43-point plan spanning nine printed pages that lays out conditions covering health, safety and project mitigations. Under Pennsylvania law, the township cannot outright reject a lawful land use, but it can enforce zoning rules and require mitigations.
The township says O’Neill’s company initially “represented that they would implement any provisions that the Township proposed.” O’Neill balked at the final list. His lawyers are now challenging the township’s zoning ordinance, arguing the conditions are too burdensome…