The debate over a proposed 2 million-square-foot AI data center in Plymouth Township near Conshohocken has become acrimonious, with local officials and the developer trading accusations of mistreatment.
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Plymouth Township Council Chair Lynne Viscio said Monday that the project’s developer, Brian O’Neill, had “bullied” and “intimidated” township officials in an attempt to gain approval to build the facility on the site of the shuttered Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill.
O’Neill’s recent efforts have included a legal challenge to the township’s zoning ordinance. Viscio said it was filed after O’Neill “rejected” the township’s concerns and its proposed data-center “safeguards.”
“This is a blatant attempt by the applicant to demand approval by throwing a tantrum,” Viscio said in a statement, which she delivered during a live streamed appearance by council members, later . “The township is not interested in entertaining such theatrics.”
Reached by phone, O’Neill called the accusations “a bold-faced lie” that were part of a “misinformation campaign” against his planned data center. He said he had been “negotiating in good faith” with township attorneys for months and had agreed to “the majority” of the township’s conditions.
“We are sympathetic to the fact that they are under tremendous political scrutiny from people outside the township, as well as residents inside the township, and that makes giving a landowner their property rights … challenging,” said O’Neill, a longtime developer in Conshohocken and on the Main Line.
“However, I am a landowner, and I do have rights,” he added, “and it is their job to be impartial and fair in their analysis and response.”
Hyperscale data centers, such as the one O’Neill is proposing, house the energy-hungry technology that powers ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools.
Several such facilities have been proposed in the Philadelphia region amid surging AI demand and a global boom in data-center development. Two are under construction — an Amazon data center in Falls Township, Bucks County, and a facility in Vineland, Cumberland County, that is set to power Microsoft’s AI tools.
On the outskirts of Conshohocken, O’Neill and his team have spent nearly a year trying to get the green light for a data center at the 66-acre property along the Schuylkill. Last fall, they abruptly withdrew their original proposal due to legal issues. In May, they resubmitted the plans for a center that would span 10 existing buildings.
The Plymouth Township site is less than a mile from downtown Conshohocken, near the Proving Grounds sports complex, Tee’s Golf Center, and dozens of homes in the township’s Connaughtown section.
O’Neill has not said who would operate the center but has indicated it would be a tenant related to the life sciences.
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An initial zoning hearing board meeting on the resurrected Plymouth Township project was held last month. As of Monday, a more substantive hearing was and was set to include the presentation of evidence and testimony.
The Plymouth Township project is one of six data centers that O’Neill is proposing in the area. Across the river in Upper Merion Township, where O’Neill’s MLP Ventures already has offices and labs, the developer has proposed a 4.6 million-square-foot data center campus spanning five properties.
After a tense Upper Merion Township Planning Commission meeting last week, officials there voted not to recommend approval of three of O’Neill’s five plans. A hearing on the other two Upper Merion plans is set for Aug. 12.
After the planning commission reviews all the applications, the Upper Merion Township Board of Supervisors will ultimately decide whether to approve the projects.
In both Upper Merion and Plymouth Townships, some residents have rallied against the plans, packing township meetings, signing online petitions, putting anti-data-center signs on their lawns, and organizing on social media. They have cited concerns about light, noise, and air pollution; water usage; and electricity costs.
On Monday, O’Neill reiterated that his Plymouth Township data center would make little noise, emit no light pollution, and operate on a closed-loop system that does not require outside water. He said it would generate its own power, not taxing the grid, and generate “billions of dollars in employment and economic development.”
“I am shocked that [the township council] can in good conscience not promote my plan, let alone publicly oppose it,” given office vacancies in the area, O’Neill said. In the past, “our developments have helped to create the vibrant community that Conshohocken and Plymouth are today.”
Viscio, the Plymouth Township Council chair, said that local officials wanted to ensure that O’Neill’s proposed data center improved residents’ quality of life — and that O’Neill’s efforts could prevent them from doing so.
“We will not allow ourselves to be bullied or intimidated by any developer,” Viscio said. “We will not dismiss legitimate concerns raised by our residents.”
She said the council would continue to oppose O’Neill’s application and his challenge to the zoning ordinance.
On Monday afternoon, O’Neill called back a reporter with an additional message for Plymouth Township officials: “We’re always willing to make a deal if they want to sit down and talk.”