Archbald residents show resistance to Project Gravity data centers
Residents and local officials strongly opposed Corscale Data Centers’ proposed Project Gravity campus at an Archbald Planning Commission meeting, citing zoning, battery-fire, stormwater, noise and emergency-response concerns. The commission ended the three-hour hearing without deciding whether to approve the project’s final land development plans, while a related zoning challenge by the Valley View School District is pending in county court.
Corscale Data Centers presented revised plans for Project Gravity, a proposed 180-plus-acre campus in Archbald with seven data center buildings and 430 megawatts of battery energy storage. The project is backed by Affinius Capital and would use fewer diesel generators than originally planned, but residents remained concerned about battery fires, toxic releases, stormwater runoff, noise, traffic and the effects of construction on former mine lands.
About 70 people attended the Archbald Planning Commission meeting, where 15 Lackawanna County residents spoke against the development. County Commissioner Bill Gaughan, Valley View School District Solicitor Kyle Callejas and local residents urged the commission to deny the plans, while Corscale executive vice president Erik Draaisma defended the project’s safety measures and argued that its batteries would be accessory to a permitted data center use.
Project Gravity is proceeding under Archbald’s legacy zoning because its initial plans predated a later zoning amendment regulating data centers. The planning commission took no action at the meeting, and the Valley View School District is challenging the project’s zoning designation in county court.