A Doylestown developer plans a large-scale data center across seven properties in Clifton and Covington townships, but the core fight is over whether local zoning can limit data center use and onsite power generation.
The settlement that would let the project move forward is now in legal limbo because it was approved without the zoning hearing board’s participation, raising questions about who actually has authority under Pennsylvania’s municipal planning code.
Clifton added a data center zoning ordinance midstream, the zoning board unanimously backed it, and the developer is attacking that ordinance as exclusionary while also seeking site-specific relief and leveraging a separate procedural challenge where the board is not a party.
Local concerns are tightly tied to infrastructure externalities: Covington officials argue the deal pushes heavy water and power burdens onto their township, while the developer claims a confidential “end user” will significantly reduce the project’s overall impact.
The township solicitor backed the stipulation because the end user’s requirements allegedly shrink the footprint versus a fully litigated build, but NDAs mean no public clarity on actual load, generation needs, or grid impacts.
Environmental advocates and neighboring townships are trying to intervene, signaling growing regional pushback on opaque, energy-intensive data center siting and governance structures.
The judge now has to decide whether this kind of behind-the-scenes settlement can stand, and the outcome will matter for how future AI-scale data center projects navigate zoning, power sourcing, and community leverage in Pennsylvania, making the original piece worth a close read.
Source: Lackawanna County judge holds hearing on Clifton Twp. data center settlement challenges
