Preliminary plans for what could become Wayne County’s first industrial data center, proposed for a largely wooded tract next to the village of Browndale, have been made available on the Clinton Township website. Plans for the hotly contested project show 20 data hall buildings, each 18,000 square feet, and two natural gas generating facilities.
The 35 pages of plans also show an administration building, approximately 33,400 square feet, and two electrical substation yards. There are also a water treatment building, water detention basins, parking, utilities and landscaping.
The rectangular data halls, which would contain the server equipment and cooling infrastructure, are grouped together in rows in two different areas of the campus.
The plans were prepared by engineering company Kimley-Horn & Associates. The firm was engaged by Linde Corporation, based in Pittston. Linde Corporation is listed as the project owner and applicant. The applicant initially made the proposal to the township on April 30.
Supporting documents following the plan state that a portion of the property will be used for electrical power generation that is meant to include a PJM interconnection to supply power to reinforce the electrical grid. Preliminary land development plans show a secondary location for future expansion of power generation.
The data center campus, covering about 520 acres, is located east of the Lackawanna River, immediately southeast of Browndale. An earlier version of the plans labels the primary entrance on Flat Rock Road, east of Browndale. This driveway includes a proposed security entrance halfway in. The version of the plans posted in early June does not label the entrance but does label a secondary entrance/construction access to Route 247, on the west side of the property.
The entire project includes 662 acres. There is a border fence and woodland that is left as a buffer.
Labella Associates has been contracted by ARM Group, LLC, to conduct a first phase environmental site assessment report on the property. Labella’s report tells of dumped tires along the Lackawanna River and culm piles, the latter being evidence of the colliery that existed near Browndale supporting the anthracite coal mining done in the Forest City region in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The township posted these plans ahead of the June 3 planning commission meeting. After detailed review of the application document package, the planning board rejected it for incompleteness, sending it back to the applicant. Linde Corporation is yet to make a public presentation. Interim solicitor Ronald Bugaj advised the commission to schedule a public hearing for the applicant to explain the project and for the public to ask questions, once a revised application package is deemed complete.
This was the fourth township meeting at which the data center has been on the agenda, each time drawing 150 to 200 residents, deeply skeptical and concerned over the proposed development. Township residents have become increasingly organized in their determination to stop the project. This has included starting a Facebook group, raising funds to hire their own attorney and engaging with their township officials who are seeking ways to make up for limited means to regulate projects such as this. These include amending the township’s subdivision and land development ordinance to include data center regulations and exploring adoption of a township-wide zoning ordinance.
Bugaj, however, told the supervisors on May 29 that regulations put in place after the application has been made will likely only apply to future projects. He said that once the application package is approved for submission, the township has 90 days to decide on approving the project or it will be automatically deemed approved.
