Plans for a massive new data center in Allegheny County were delayed Wednesday night by the borough’s planning commission.
The proposal by developer Allegheny DC Property Co., LLC, calls for a data center complex on the site of the now-demolished Cheswick Generation Station, a coal-fired power plant located along the Allegheny River in Springdale Borough. Allegheny DC is owned by Davidson Kempner, an international investment firm.
The company’s representatives spoke Wednesday at the borough’s planning commission meeting, which was attended by about 70 residents. The commission is determining whether to recommend the project to the Springdale Council for approval.
“Our hope is that people are ready to say yes to something like this,” said Allegheny DC consultant Brian Regli.
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Community Concerns
While local leaders have voiced support for the data center, residents are concerned about the potential health impacts from construction dust, as well as air pollution and noise pollution from the data center.
Resident Sydney Carlson, who lives within a half-mile of the site, worries that her young children and the rest of her family will be affected by a constant hum from the data center.
“My elderly in-laws live right down the road from us…my father-in-law has a ton of health issues. What is this going to do for him?” she asked.
Noise reduction is one of the planning commission’s conditions for the project’s approval. The developers said they would be as “aggressive as we can” in mitigating sound and told residents that the noise levels wouldn’t be any worse than typical truck traffic in Pittsburgh.
“We are willing to accept a condition that we will have to do even more if necessary in order to make sure that the sound is mitigated,” Regli said.
Carlson said she isn’t necessarily opposed to the data center, “but I don’t want this $350 billion hedge fund to get rich off of us being miserable and uncomfortable every single day in our own homes,” she said, referring to Davidson Kempner, which is among the world’s largest hedge fund managers.
Other residents were concerned about the data center’s water usage and electricity needs, which are expected to be 180 megawatts of power, equivalent to more than 150,000 homes.
“Within the last year, at my address, I’ve had a lot of power outages just within our current power load on the system,” said resident Kyle Gower. He worries that the data center will make that worse.
Data center growth and rising electricity bills
According to the Springdale project proposal, the data center would be used largely for AI development.
Power-hungry AI requires more energy at a faster rate than typical internet activities.
Power demand from data centers in the U.S., driven by AI and cryptocurrency, has doubled in recent years and is expected to surge by the end of the decade, straining the power grid. This is leading to increased electricity rates for consumers.
Numerous data centers have been proposed in Pennsylvania, including a $20 billion plan by Amazon to build two data centers in Luzerne County, which has the support of Governor Josh Shapiro. Other companies have proposed data centers in Indiana, Beaver, Cumberland, and York counties, and the Lancaster area, with more in the works.
In July, President Trump came to Pittsburgh promoting the growth of AI in Pennsylvania. He announced $90 billion in new projects, though many were underway before he took office.
Back in Springdale
“I urge you to stay focused,” Regli told the crowd at the Springdale planning commission. “This is not…a referendum on data centers.”
“This is one of the few opportunities you now have to establish a stronger tax base to fund your schools and your community centers,” he said. “If not this, then what?”
The commission delayed its decision on whether to recommend the project to the Springdale Council until October 8. The Council will host a public hearing on October 16, where it could vote on the project.
