At the second session of a conditional use hearing for a proposed large-scale data center project in Limerick Township, the applicant's team deferred many substantive questions about how the facility would operate to expert witnesses who have yet to testify.
Albert Magnotta, a project manager with LaBella Associates, served as the applicant's first witness. Answering questions from the developer’s attorney Ed Campbell, Magnotta provided a detailed walkthrough of the site plan. Under cross-examination from the township's attorney, the Spring-Ford Area School District's attorney, and multiple other party-status holders, Magnotta said questions about generator schedules, chiller specifications, cooling, water usage, noise mitigation, and fire safety were outside the scope of his role as project manager.
"That would be a question for the data center consultant," Magnotta said repeatedly.
The hearing took place on Monday, May 11, at the Limerick Township building before the township's board of supervisors. April proceedings related to the data center project were held at Spring-Ford Area High School due to the expected high turnout, but officials decided to move the hearings back to the municipal complex with increased security and limited seating due to online threats.
Monday’s meeting was recorded and broadcast live on the township’s YouTube page.
What the Plans Show
Magnotta walked the board through the applicant's overall site plan for a proposed data center campus on approximately 191 acres in Limerick Township, located near the Limerick Generating Station and Philadelphia Premium Outlets.
The plan calls for eight data center buildings — five smaller structures at 154,600 square feet each (two-story footprint totaling 309,200 square feet) and three larger buildings at 202,304 square feet each (two-story footprint totaling 404,608 square feet). The tallest building in the plan is proposed at 85 feet in height, below the ordinance's 120-foot maximum, according to the developer’s team.
Each of the five smaller buildings would have 36 diesel generators and 42 rooftop chillers. Each of the three larger buildings would have 42 diesel generators and 64 rooftop chillers — totaling 306 generators and 402 chillers across the campus. Questioners cross-examining Magnotta noted that both figures have increased since the original application was submitted in December.
The campus would feature a main entrance off Lightcap Road aligned with an existing signalized intersection, a secondary entrance off Possum Hollow Road serving only Building 8, two emergency access points, and a perimeter security fence with 24-hour guard houses. A logistics building and an administrative building — each approximately 40,000 square feet — are also planned.
Power would be delivered via a PECO-owned switching station and substation located east of Possum Hollow Run, with a 230-kilovolt overhead line connecting to a customer-owned substation on the campus. The applicant’s team confirmed the developer would bear the cost of constructing both the PECO facilities and the customer substation.
Roads and Pipelines
The project requires relocating Possum Hollow Road — currently a township road the applicant does not own — around the edge of the campus. The applicant's attorney said the current configuration could not proceed as shown if Possum Hollow Road is not vacated or relocated.
The plan also calls for relocating a gas transmission line that currently bisects the property, rerouting it along the campus perimeter under internal drives. A second gas line along the eastern portion of the property would remain in place, with parking improvements built above it in compliance with the pipeline easement.
Two internal roads on the primary site plan would cross tributaries of Possum Hollow Run, prompting discussion over whether the township ordinance permits those crossings as “required roads.” Under questioning from Wendy McKenna, an attorney representing Limerick Township, Magnotta acknowledged the internal drives could fit the ordinance’s definition of a “driveway” rather than a “roadway” — a distinction discussed in relation to whether the crossings could qualify for an exemption under the ordinance. The applicant also submitted an alternate site plan eliminating the crossings but requiring an additional access point on Lightcap Road.
A pump station near Lightcap Road would reroute existing sanitary sewer lines — from the shopping center and nearby residences — around the campus perimeter. Magnotta clarified the pump station would not handle any wastewater generated by the data center itself.
Key Questions Deferred to Future Testimony
Some of the hearing's 27 party-status participants pressed Magnotta on a wide range of issues.
Attorneys representing the township, Spring-Ford Area School District, and neighboring property owners, as well as nearby residents with party status representing themselves, questioned Magnotta on issues including floodplain crossings, setback measurements, parking, noise, cooling systems, water usage, emergency response planning, stormwater management, and potential impacts on nearby properties and wells.
In many instances, the developer’s team answered questions related to the site plan itself — such as building placement, setbacks, and infrastructure layout — but deferred more technical or operational questions to future expert witnesses expected to testify later in the hearing.
Campbell and Magnotta also confirmed that they are both working on a separate large-scale data center project in Archbald in northeast Pennsylvania.
The hearing was continued to June 16 at 6:30 p.m. Magnotta is expected to remain available for further cross-examination from party-status holders who did not complete their questioning. The data center operations consultant and additional expert witnesses are anticipated to testify at a future session.
In neighboring East Vincent Township, a conditional use hearing for another data center proposal is scheduled to continue on May 21 after a contentious initial session last month.
This article was generated with AI assistance. All content was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by John McGuire.
