Springdale residents push back against proposed 47-acre data center

Springdale borough residents have organized to block the construction of a large data center on the town's riverfront.

The development site sits on the grounds of a coal-fired power plant that ceased operations in 2022. Cathy Mager, a lifelong resident, stood near the property fence on Oct. 19 to demonstrate the proximity of the project to local homes. She noted that houses sit across Porter Street, roughly 100 feet from the development perimeter.

"We don't want it," Mager said. She is part of a group called Save Allegheny Valley Environment, formed by dozens of neighbors in northeastern Allegheny County. Vicki Wanamaker, 66, lives about one-tenth of a mile from the site. She has lived in the area for 53 years under the noise and presence of the former power plant and worries about the sound from water coolers and diesel generators associated with the new facility.

Springdale council members voted 5-2 in December to approve a conditional use permit for the project. The developer is Dynamo DC, a company with a local address that specializes in building facilities on remediated brownfield sites. Residents are now petitioning Allegheny County to halt further land use planning for the site.

Brian Regli, a spokesperson for Dynamo DC, explained that the facility will use acoustical shielding to keep noise levels below ordinance limits. The system will recycle 500,000 gallons of water in a closed-loop cooling process. Regli stated the data center is designed to handle up to 240 megawatts of power from the regional grid. The company plans to have the facility online by 2029, though it has not yet named the specific companies or contractors that will use the servers.

Amie Downs of Caveat Communications, which handles communications for the borough, said local officials negotiated additional provisions regarding noise, lighting, and traffic. These standards are stricter than those usually required by borough ordinances. The project is part of a national trend where data centers are becoming a focal point for voter concern.

Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, observed that public opinion on these facilities has shifted rapidly. He noted that politicians once fought to attract data centers to their communities. Now, many residents view the large server farms with skepticism. A late August poll by YouGov and The Economist found that 63 percent of American adults do not want a data center built in their community.

The issue has influenced local and state politics in Pennsylvania. Allegheny County council members voted unanimously in September to ban data centers larger than 25 megawatts on county-owned land. Council member Kathleen Madonna-Emmerling said this move provides a legal foundation to deny permits on county property without targeting specific businesses. The Springdale project remains in the planning phase as neighbors continue to monitor the process.