Developer's pamphlets, traffic forecasts dominate Wildcat Ridge data center hearing in Archbald

Archbald, Pennsylvania residents continue to fiercely oppose the proposed Wildcat Ridge Data Center campus by Cornell Realty Management, voicing concerns over environmental impact, traffic, and community disruption. During the third conditional use zoning hearing, locals, including Mary Therese McKane, expressed anger at the developer's pro-data center marketing materials, calling them "propaganda" and returning them to a box on stage. Attorney Edmund Campbell, representing Brooklyn-based Cornell, presented testimony from Jerilyn D. Luben of L&V Engineering regarding the campus's traffic analysis. Residents and their attorney, Justin Richards, challenged Luben's methodology, noting that the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) standards used for trip generation were based on significantly smaller data center buildings than the 5 million square-foot structures proposed for Wildcat Ridge. Concerns were also raised about the analysis's omission of a proposed commercial building and the "negligible" classification of truck traffic for the 574 diesel fuel generators. Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan criticized Cornell's promotional pamphlets, which touted $45 million in annual tax revenue for the Valley View School District, dismissing them as a transactional illusion. Gaughan, who advocates for a three-year moratorium on data center construction, further slammed the developer's website for implying that opposition might be funded by outside interests, asserting that local residents like Madonna Munley and Megan Farrell are self-funding their efforts to protect their town. The hearing is scheduled to resume on May 14.