DICKSON CITY — Residents overwhelmingly opposed the notion of data centers on the mountain above Business Route 6 during a public hearing Tuesday night where borough officials and the community pressed a data center developer for information.

A standing-room-only crowd of at least 200 concerned residents packed Dickson City’s council chambers for a public hearing to consider restricting data centers as special exceptions in the borough’s light manufacturing zoning districts. Speakers largely took aim at a proposal from a prolific local data center developer looking to build at least three data centers near Cold Spring Road.

“The real reason why these companies are choosing places like us is not to invest in the community or to boost the local economy — they see us as a dumping ground,” resident Leandra Nash said, drawing applause from an occasionally uproarious crowd that spilled into the Borough Building’s lobby. “They see us as a place they can put these ugly, polluting, energy-wasting monstrosities so that they can increase their profit margins while those who live around them suffer the consequences.”

Attorneys Michael Mey and Raymond Rinaldi for Dickson City Development LLC — a firm linked to Kriger Construction Inc. President Jim Marzolino, who has been involved in data center proposals in Archbald and Blakely — argued Dickson City’s zoning already permits data centers in its highway commercial zoning districts, allowing them to build three data centers above the site of a proposed Wawa on the mountain near Cold Spring Road. Alternatively, the developer submitted a zoning ordinance to the borough seeking a 403-acre data center overlay district that would permit a data center campus around Bell Mountain.

Each proposed building would have a roughly 150,000-square-foot footprint, though the developer’s representatives did not provide heights.

Dickson City Council did not consider either data center request Tuesday. Instead, council is considering designating data centers as special exceptions along Enterprise Street near Eagle Lane and undeveloped land southeast of Railroad Street. The designation would not permit any projects to move forward with development, but it would establish the requirements and conditions needed for the borough’s zoning hearing board to approve a special exception request for a data center. However, Dickson City Development’s representatives contend the location is too small and lacks the utilities to support data centers, meaning a legal challenge is likely if council adopts the legislation.

Following about two-and-a-half hours of testimony, council voted 6-1 to recess the hearing and reconvene Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. Councilman Stanley Prushinski was the sole “no” vote.

Once the borough initiated the process of amending its zoning in November, any proposals received after that had to adhere to the amended zoning, under a pending ordinance doctrine. Failing to adopt the legislation next month will not stop any data centers, but projects — including Dickson City Development, borough officials said — would no longer be bound by the proposed amendments.

Dickson City, like other Pennsylvania municipalities, has to allow for every type of lawful land use somewhere within its borders, including data centers. Failing to do so could result in challenges to the borough’s zoning.

‘This is not right’

Two dozen residents addressed borough officials Tuesday night, and virtually all 24 speakers opposed the facilities, worrying about noise pollution and the acoustics of the valley, significant water and electricity use, and deforestation of the mountain and how it would affect both flooding and wildlife. In addition, some outraged Bell Mountain residents fear data centers could become their new neighbors and what that means for local property values.

Bell Mountain resident Wendy Jones, who is also a member of the Dickson City Planning Commission, said the commission felt the light manufacturing district was the best place for data centers because it would have the least impact on people in the area.

“If there is any type of building on the top of the mountain, water is going to come downhill,” she said.

One of the hearing’s most impassioned speakers, Bell Mountain resident Tim Pfleiderer, said his is the highest house on the mountain, and the proposed data center overlay is next to his property. Pfleiderer said he only heard about the hearing in the news that morning.

“You’re sitting there saying, ‘Oh, we’re away from the residents,’” he said. “I am that resident.”

Pfleiderer referenced previous, unrealized plans from Marzolino’s uncle, Alfred Kriger Jr., to build about 300 townhouses on the mountain in 2021, overlapping with the current proposed data center overlay. He asked whether the developer would buy his property when he has to move and questioned the noise the data centers would emit.

“Now we’re putting in data centers?” he said. “Wait a second, this is not right.”

Although data centers will be governed by Dickson City’s noise ordinance, David Mates, a father of a 1-year-old and a 5-year-old in the town, argued a data center’s 24/7 operations are different from a normal business when it comes to noise.

“This noise … routinely disrupts people’s sleep patters, routinely gives people anxiety issues,” he said.

Mates cited the massive quantities of water and electricity needed to cool and power data centers. He asked the crowd to raise their hands if they have children and arms popped up throughout the room, including among council members.

“Who is going to be comfortable looking their children in the eye on a 7 degree night like last night and say, ‘Sorry kids, we can’t stay warm tonight. The data centers needed our energy,” Mates said. “I’m sorry kids, we cannot take a shower for the next week. The data center needed our water.”

Celine Nash, another borough resident who said she has a degree in forestry, warned, “You cut the trees, everything is going to come down.”

“The trees have been found to be the only thing holding in (landslides),” she said, referencing the closure of Dickson City’s original Walmart on Cold Spring Road in December 1996 after multiple boulders — some larger than automobiles — crashed down the mountain, striking the store and several parked cars. “We saw what happened when Walmart got crumbled by the landslide up on the mountain. You want that to be the entire town?”

She pointed to the echo caused by the acoustics of the valley and cautioned that residents would hear the sounds of data centers across the valley.

Nash also argued deforestation will drive more animals into residential areas, including bears and fisher cats, which she said already happened when large swaths of trees were cleared along Viewmont Drive for the Geisinger Cancer Center.

“What are you going to do to protect us from the animals? What about the poor animals’ homes?” Nash said. “Not only that, noise pollution drives animals away. Do you want only the sound of humming and no birds in your yard?”

Travis Calvert stressed the need for transparency, referencing his personal ties to multiple borough officials.

“To our council, to the people I looked at, I grew up with, that I work with now, as a member of Dickson City, I want to say, we, as the residents, really rely on your transparency here so we can trust you that you’re doing the right thing for the community,” Calvert said.

Other concerns included first responders, data center lifespans and e-waste from the facilities.

‘Worth protecting’

Both Dickson City Solicitor Bill Jones and Council President Jeff Kovaleski questioned utility use, though they did not get definite answers.

Attorney Raymond Rinaldi, who most recently represented the seven-data-center Project Gravity in Archbald at a state Department of Environmental Protection public hearing earlier this month, said electricity rates are governed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, and their water would come through Pennsylvania American Water.

Jones asked again about anticipated water use, and Rinaldi said it depends on the end user and whether they use air or water cooling.

Data center representative Jennifer Leonard, land development energy leader for KCI Technologies in Mechanicsburg, said data centers are moving away from water cooling. Using water for cooling would likely be in a closed-loop system that would need a one-time taking of water to fill it, though it may not be water cooled at all.

“As far as design, we could absolutely get you a calculation with our application to provide transparency at that level when we even have a design,” Leonard said. “Right now, we’re just trying to have a discussion with the community about where the appropriate placement would be.”

Jones continued by asking about electricity, with Leonard estimating that a 150,000-square-foot building would use about 150 megawatts as a rule of thumb. By comparison, the proposed Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus in Archbald projects using 1,600 megawatts for 14 202,340-square-foot data centers.

“Will there be a constant — that hum that we all heard?” Jones said, referring to resident Sheila Carluccio holding her phone into the microphone and playing audio from a data center.

Leonard said a data center would produce about 50 to 60 decibels from 100 feet away, with the noise decreasing by about six decibels for every 100 feet. To mitigate noise, putting up sound walls has become a standard operating procedure for data centers, she said.

Councilwoman Casey Sims questioned the impacts of cutting down trees along the mountain and the possibility of runoff. Rinaldi said that anytime a project disturbs more than an acre, it has to be controlled; the development cannot release more water than the land already generates, requiring stormwater controls in its permitting.

As Dickson City considers its data center legislation, data center attorney Michael Mey said their position is that Dickson City’s highway commercial and special highway commercial districts allow data centers, referring to a zoning description of “data processing and record storage” in that district.

However, he said his client’s position is that higher up on the mountain in the proposed data center overlay is the ideal location because it is not in proximity to residents, and it’s bisected by 230- and 500-kilovolt power lines.

Mey asked Leonard to point out why Dickson City’s light manufacturing designation does not work, with the most significant issue being inadequate power lines. The site is also almost completely surrounded by residents, in addition to only about 7 or 8 acres of the 15 available acres being usable because the rest falls into a flood zone.

Council opted not to vote on any data center legislation Tuesday, letting a motion to vote on it die before voting to continue its hearing until next month.

Leandra Nash was among the residents who urged the town to take its time.

“We should stand up with other communities across the country who have said that their lives are worth more than tax revenue increases, that their lives, the lives of our children and the environment around us, are worth protecting,” she said. “We are worth slowing down and taking a more cautious perspective on what the future could bring. We are worth it.”

When is the next meeting?

Dickson City will continue its public hearing Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. followed by a special meeting at 7:30 to vote on the data center legislation in the Borough Building, 901 Enterprise St.