Olyphant Data Center Opponents to Hold Information Night
Olyphant residents are organizing against proposed data center developments, forming "Stop Olyphant Data Centers" and raising funds for legal counsel. The group will host a community information night to address misinformation and unite residents. This comes after the Olyphant Borough Council adopted data center zoning standards and a firm, ERCOR Triboro, filed a lawsuit to compel the issuance of a zoning permit.
The Stop Olyphant Data Centers group in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, is organizing its first community event to inform residents and counter misinformation regarding proposed data center developments in Lackawanna County. Co-organizer Eva Rappenglueck emphasized the importance of community unity and awareness of ongoing applications and actions residents can take to influence outcomes. The group, formed in April, has grown to over 1,800 Facebook members and raised more than $6,150 for legal counsel through a GoFundMe campaign. The information night, scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m. at Fern Hill Park, will feature speakers including Rappenglueck, Aline Browning from Lackawanna Citizens’ Overwatch Project discussing health concerns, and Emily Van Fleet sharing insights from successful opposition efforts in Archbald.
This community mobilization follows several key developments. In April, the Olyphant Borough Council adopted new zoning standards for data centers, a decision affirmed in a June settlement that resolved a prior lawsuit with a Charles DeNaples-managed firm, which had previously applied for and then withdrawn plans for seven data centers. The borough's ordinance conditionally permits data centers on approximately 1,000 acres of industrially zoned land. Officials defended the zoning as a necessary measure to avoid legal challenges over exclusionary zoning.
However, the path forward remains contentious. ERCOR Triboro, an LLC operating under St. Louis-based Sansone Group, filed a lawsuit in June asking a Lackawanna County judge to mandate Olyphant issue a zoning permit for its Project Triboro data center campus. The company argues that its 2022 approval for warehouses on the site should exempt it from newer data center regulations, despite a change in proposed use from warehouses to seven data centers and a substation. Rappenglueck believes many residents perceive data centers as an inevitability, a sentiment she hopes to challenge by rallying community support against the developments.