Lancaster data center agreement’s benefit to community questioned

Lancaster City's Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with artificial intelligence and cloud computing firm CoreWeave, concerning planned data centers at 216 Greenfield Road and 1375 Harrisburg Pike, is drawing criticism for its perceived shortcomings. Experts and local activist groups like Lancaster Stands Up question the agreement's efficacy in addressing community concerns, particularly regarding job creation and residents' ability to seek legal recourse for quality-of-life impacts such as noise. Negotiated by the administration of now-former Mayor Danene Sorace, the CBA includes atypical provisions for data centers in Pennsylvania, such as $20 million in payments for local causes and a commitment to 100% renewable energy. However, critics like Romany Webb from Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law argue that the job promises, which aim for local hiring percentages for the projected 2,000 construction and 350 permanent jobs, lack the specific commitments seen in other CBAs. Brigitte Meyer, a staff attorney for PennFuture, highlighted a significant legal concern: while a city ordinance violation allows residents to sue, the CBA only permits the city to enforce its terms, limiting individual citizens' legal avenues. The agreement was developed to address significant resident opposition, and it required the settlement of any active appeals against prior data center approvals before the city would receive payments. Despite the city's assertion that the CBA addresses impacts beyond what zoning can achieve, city council had been considering a separate data center ordinance with similar regulations, which has not been publicly discussed since the agreement's approval. Taylor Raymond of Lancaster Stands Up acknowledged the CBA as "the best option for minimizing problems" but expressed disappointment over the lack of community input during negotiations.