Data Center Zoning and Power Plant Hearings Continue in Dickson City and Archbald, Pennsylvania
Data center developer Dickson City Development LLC is challenging Dickson City, Pennsylvania's data center zoning ordinance through a land use appeal in court and before the borough's zoning hearing board. Concurrently, an affiliated company, Essential Energy LLC, is seeking conditional use approval for a 400-megawatt natural gas power plant in Archbald, Pennsylvania, which would support a proposed data center. Both communities are holding hearings this week on these interconnected developments.
Data center developer Dickson City Development LLC is challenging a data center zoning ordinance recently adopted by Dickson City, Pennsylvania. The firm, affiliated with Kriger Construction Inc., filed a land use appeal on March 13 in the Lackawanna County Court of Commons Pleas, arguing the borough's new regulations are exclusionary. The company will also present its case before the Dickson City Zoning Hearing Board on Wednesday, May 15, to challenge the ordinance's validity and appeal previous denials of its applications for four data centers on Bell Mountain.
The following day, Essential Energy LLC, another firm linked to Kriger Construction's president Jim Marzolino and vice president David Stiles, will attend a second conditional use hearing before the Archbald Borough Council on Thursday, May 16. Essential Energy seeks approval for a 400-megawatt natural gas power plant on Eynon Jermyn Road, which is proposed to be located across the street from Marzolino's planned 620,000-square-foot 'Project Boson' data center. The power plant proposal faced scrutiny during its initial hearing in April, with opponents raising concerns about a lack of detailed information and environmental studies. Residents will have an opportunity to testify at the Archbald hearing.