Logging and Data Center Challenges

As an organization, we are busy addressing Data Center proposals and other challenges, including the continued use of Sewage Sludge as fertilizer. Recently, Save Carbon County encountered a new, time-sensitive challenge addressing the proposal to selectively timber over 1,500 trees on land owned by the Jim Thorpe Borough near Germantown. Members of Save Carbon County attended and spoke at the Jim Thorpe Borough Council meeting on Thursday night, where Council members voted to end consideration of the proposal! Thanks to the Save Carbon County members who gave well-informed comments, to the Jim Thorpe residents who attended in support, and to the Borough Council for voting to end the proposal. We are thrilled that this area will remain unspoiled by logging and continue to be enjoyed by Jim Thorpe residents for hiking and access to natural lands.

Our next challenge is the proposed Data Center in Penn Forest Township. A meeting of the Penn Forest Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB) is being scheduled to hear a challenge to the Penn Forest Zoning Ordinance, saying that language in the Zoning Ordinance “unconstitutionally” excludes Data Center uses in the Township. A decision by the ZHB may result in approving a Data Center in Penn Forest. The challenger to the Zoning Ordinance is the property owner who is proposing a Data Center at Maury Road and State Route 903. He is asking that the ZHB declare the Zoning Ordinance invalid and that he be granted “site specific relief.” If he is successful, the ZHB may determine that a Data Center can be built at the proposed site. The ZHB has the power to make a final decision that cannot be overturned by the Penn Forest Supervisors. During the Zoning Hearing Board meeting, the applicant/challenger and those with “standing” (for example, residents or neighbors with a direct interest in the Data Center) can state their concerns. It is crucial that residents and neighbors who oppose the Data Center proposal attend the meeting and speak. We'll post the time and date of the ZHB meeting as soon as it is scheduled.