Fearing a lawsuit from the developer, a small town in Allegheny County just voted to advance a massive data center project.

Springdale Council voted 5-2 yesterday to approve Allegheny DC Property Co.’s proposal for a 565,000-square-foot data center in the borough. The vote came after several community members spoke out against the project, but that didn’t dissuade the majority of councilmembers, who said the borough could face a crippling lawsuit if they didn’t approve it. 

A group of people stand outside holding signs protesting against a proposed data center, with messages like "No Data Center" and "Gas Data Centers Frack Our Future.
Springdale residents holding signs in opposition to the data center project before the final council meeting to approve or deny the project (Alice Crow/Technical.ly)

“We’ve been threatened from the beginning,” councilmember Jeffrey Hartz, who voted no, said. “The public should know that if we do not pass it tonight, we could get sued and lose,” he added. 

While the data center could improve the borough’s financial situation through tax revenue, Hartz said, it didn’t outweigh the potential negative psychological effects on residents. However, the borough was aware early on that it could face a legal fight from the developer if it denied its application. 

The final vote was controversial, with community residents booing members who voted in favor of the proposal. For months, residents have protested the project, citing concerns of possible air pollution, constant noise, water usage and increased electricity bills. 

Ahead of the vote, several community members gathered with signs outside the borough’s office building, and over a dozen residents provided public comments.

A group of people, many seated and some standing, attentively listen during a community meeting in a room with fluorescent lighting and red carpet.
Community members gather at the Springdale Borough Council meeting to oppose the data center project (Alice Crow/Technical.ly)

“Once that thing goes in, we’re done. We will not have peace in this valley,” community member Patrick Goldman said ahead of the vote, citing his experience visiting multiple data centers during his 30-year career in IT. 

A man speaks at a podium during a public meeting in a room labeled "Springdale Borough," with council members, attendees and media present.
One of several residents speaking to Springdale Borough Council before the final vote (Alice Crow/Technical.ly)

Despite the opposition, under Pennsylvania law, once an applicant shows it complies with the specific zoning criteria, the council is legally required to approve the application. Allegheny DC Property Co.’s application fell within those guidelines. 

The borough had acquired additional legal counsel during the process, according to councilmember Daniel Copeland, and multiple attorneys told the borough that the developer would likely win in court if the application were denied. 

“If there’s any millionaires that we don’t know about here that’s willing to cough up the money and defend the town,” Mayor Joel Anderson, who voted yes, said, “stand up.”

Legal requirements push town council to approve

For months, Allegheny DC Property Co., a holding company owned by a New York-based investment firm, has been seeking permission to develop a data center in the borough specifically to power AI infrastructure. It had already purchased the property nearly a month ago, ahead of any final vote from the borough council. 

To residents, the sale signaled the project was a done deal and made “people feel like their government doesn’t work for them,” Gillian Graber, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Protect PT, told Technical.ly at a community meeting a week before the final vote. 

It led to low confidence ahead of the council meeting, according to Graber. Only about a dozen residents attended Protect PT’s most recent community meeting to organize local opposition, down from about 100 people who showed up just a few weeks earlier.

A group of people sit around tables in a meeting room, listening to two women standing and speaking at the front.
Gillian Graber (left) and other members of Protect PT speaking with Springdale community members a week before the final council vote (Alice Crow/Technical.ly)

“With that $14 million they purchased this property with, it kind of put [Allegheny DC Property Co.] into the driver’s seat,” councilmember Copeland, who voted yes, said at the final council meeting. “We have an option of you either have a good neighbor and they follow with the conditional uses, or we vote no, they take us to court.” 

The data center project required six variances to the borough’s ordinances. The developer needed permission for the building’s height, the height of a surrounding fence and to alter the size of parking spaces at the site. It had received preliminary approval from the Zoning Hearing Board ahead of the vote on Tuesday.

The council imposed 19 conditions on the approval to address and mitigate the concerns raised by residents. If the council had denied the application and that denial had been overturned on appeal — which they describe as highly likely — the borough would lose the ability to impose any conditions at all, it said.

Now, the data center proposal must seek land approval from Allegheny County. If the project continues to receive the proper approvals, construction could begin in 2027 and the data center could be operational by 2028. 

“I’m not necessarily against the data center,” one resident said at the community meeting. “I’m against it being shoved down my throat.”

Community opposition reflects national trends 

Some residents have opposed the data center project for months, a common trend nationwide. 

Over the past year, $64 billion in US data center projects have been blocked or delayed by a growing wave of local, bipartisan pushback, according to a new study from Data Center Watch, a research project run by AI security firm 10a Labs. 

Plus, earlier this month, over 230 environmental groups signed an open letter to Congress, urging members to halt approval and construction of future data centers because of these projects’ rising electricity and water usage. 

A man stands in a meeting room holding and reading from a long scroll of paper while speaking to seated attendees, with cameras recording the event.
Springdale resident Matthew Lang reads from a list of over 450 names who signed his petition to stop the Allegheny DC Property Co.’s data center project (Alice Crow/Technical.ly)

A petition for the council to deny the Springdale project received over 450 signatures, citing concerns over possible negative health impacts to residents from noise and air pollution. 

“Welcome to Springdale Borough, the eyesore of Pennsylvania,” one resident said during the public comment period before the vote. “You’re going to build a 75-foot building with an eight-foot fence with razor wire around it. How many prisoners are they going to have? None. Oh, guess what? They’re all outside the fence, all in Springdale, every one of us.”

And, don’t forget the residents in neighboring boroughs who may also feel the effects, he added. 

A person speaks into a microphone outside a building, surrounded by protesters holding signs opposing a data center. Snow is on the ground and it is evening.
Springdale resident Devon McCullough speaking in opposition to a proposed data center before the final council meeting to approve or deny the project (Alice Crow/Technical.ly)

Other residents were concerned the project would not bring in as much tax revenue — over $650,000 per year — as the developer has promised.

“I’ve been alive long enough to have already experienced one massive tech bubble crash,” resident Devon McCullough, who also works in tech, said during the Tuesday session, “and currently, with the amount of unregulated, just wild spending that is being done to advance AI, it’s too reminiscent of what we’ve seen before.”