The developer of a 1.5 million-square-foot data center project proposed for an East Whiteland Superfund site has again returned to the township requesting changes to the plan — even as they’ve already started preparing for construction.
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The newest request may look somewhat familiar: Developers Green Fig LLC and Sentinel Data Centers had gone through a monthslong process earlier this year, presenting an amended project to municipal leaders and residents, at first growing — and then offering to shrink — the overall footprint of the site. They argued that the plans first approved in 2024 were less desirable and less efficient, and that the updated plans would allay concerns about environmental impact. They scrapped those ambitions in May, and reverted back to the older concept.
But on Wednesday, the developers asked for a “field change” requesting permission to put into place some of the changes that would have been included in those amended plans.
The changes — which include the ambitions they’ve had since January — would remove the cooling towers, eliminate water cooling for the computer equipment, and install air chilled units on the building’s roofs. These changes are permitted under the Land Development Agreement, Township Manager Steve Brown told the community at the meeting. But they require the board’s approval.
The request drew ire from community members who have for months been opposed to the project, fearing the data center’s impact on health and the environment. They’ve also raised concerns that it will rest atop the former Foote Mineral Co., a contaminated industrial site that landed on the federal list of hazardous places.
The query to the board of supervisors also comes as the developers agreed last week to temporarily halt work on the site that moves the soil while the township reviews soil and human safety plans.
The board voted, 2-1, to table approval of the proposed changes; chairman Scott Lambert and supervisor Clinton Smith said there were still too many questions. Supervisor Peter Fixler cast the dissenting vote.
“What’s been presented to us this week, as I said before, I think is a gift. … What’s in front of me now is a data center that’s a third the size of their original proposal,” Fixler said ahead of the vote. “It would, I feel, be environmentally irresponsible to not approve this plan. I know that doesn’t sound popular.”
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The developer said the reason for the change is water conservation, Brown said. The approved plan would use more than 3 million gallons of water a day, versus the proposed plan, which would use air chillers.
Separately, the developer proposed slashing the size of the buildings, down from a sprawling 1.5 million square feet total build out — with two data center buildings roughly 772,000 square feet each — down to two 536,000-square-foot buildings. It would strike a basement in the current plans, and also reduce the height of the building. These changes don’t necessitate board approval, Brown said.
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In an email Thursday, Lou Colagreco, the attorney representing the developers, said they would respond to any of the board’s questions “that may still be outstanding.”
“At the end of the day, this is a simple question: will we use a cooling system that consumes millions of gallons of water a day, as approved, or not?” he said. “We believe this is a very easy decision. We are at moment in the job where we have no choice but to move forward with whatever path provides us certainty of execution. If the Board wants us to build with evaporative water cooling, we will continue to do so.”
As he discussed his decision, board chairman Scott Lambert told residents that “we could get a call tomorrow from the developer, and he may say, ‘That 536,000 square foot offer we put out there to make it smaller, it’s gone.’”
Residents weren’t cowed by that. When the developer first proposed shrinking the data center to address concerns, some said it wasn’t “an act of good will.”
On Wednesday, the community called for the rejection of the plans, saying that it was too big a transformation to be considered a field change.
“This isn’t moving a pipe from five feet away to have some mud moved on top of it. This is a half-a-million square foot change,” resident Tony Gianino said. “This is crazy. This is a completely new project. I’ve been saying this since the beginning. This is a substantial change. If not this, then what is what counts as substantial?”
Jeff Katz, another resident, said that the plans looked like those initially presented to the township in the spring, which were ultimately withdrawn.
“Bringing substantially the same changes back tonight … looks like an attempt to get through the back door of what could not be brought through the front,” he said.
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