City of Sharon, Mercer County
Keel Infrastructure, the company formerly called Bitfarms, has city zoning and land development approvals to convert its Clark Street site in Sharon, Mercer County, into a 110 megawatt data center campus for AI computing, and it's waiting on a state stormwater permit.
Mawson Infrastructure first planned a 120 megawatt Bitcoin mine at 201 Clark Street, but its landlord ended that lease in February 2024 before the site operated. Bitfarms announced its own Sharon agreement on June 13, 2024 and took control of the site in August 2024. It energized 12 megawatts in January 2025 and reached 30 megawatts in May 2025, then bought the leased site and its energy rights on October 24, 2025 for $38.7 million in cash and stock; The Herald reported the 17-acre parcel cost $6 million. Bitfarms announced its Keel Infrastructure name on February 6, 2026 and completed the change on April 1, 2026, while shifting the site from Bitcoin mining toward AI work. Keel held town meetings on April 14, 2026, signed a consent order and agreement with DEP on April 20 governing earth disturbance on the contaminated land, and won zoning variances on April 23 with a 70 decibel noise limit and a condition barring river water use. It stopped Bitcoin mining on June 29, took delivery of a transformer in August, and reported land development approval in August 2026. DEP announced a tentative decision to issue the construction stormwater permit on September 26, 2026.
The Zoning Hearing Board's April 2026 approval caps noise from the Clark Street data center at 70 decibels, according to WKBN reporting carried by WYTV. A nearby resident who can see the site from her porch told the station she worried about humming noise.
WYTV (WKBN reporting)DEP's notice says the 17-acre property once held steel and pipe plants, sits next to the Westinghouse Sharon Superfund site, and has VOCs, semi-volatile compounds, PCBs and metals above state standards in soil and groundwater, along with nonaqueous phase liquid. The developer filed for an Act 2 cleanup to redevelop it with 80 MW and 30 MW substations and data center buildings.
Pennsylvania Bulletin, Vol. 56, No. 29 (DEP notices)Keel told residents it will spend $40 million upgrading power systems, but said electric rates are set by Penn Power, so it couldn't promise bills would stay the same.
WFMJThe project is expected to bring 134 jobs paying $60,000 to $234,000 a year, with permitting, construction and hiring planned in 2026 and operations in late 2027, WFMJ reported.
WFMJKeel says its closed-loop cooling system will use less than 1,000 gallons of water a day, about what a couple of houses use. The zoning approval also bars the data center from using water from the nearby river.
Meadville Tribune (CNHI News Service)The Zoning Hearing Board unanimously granted Keel variances to exceed the city's height and lot coverage limits for the two-building campus.
The Herald (Sharon)Tactics: Online petition; residents spoke at city meetings and said they plan to take concerns to the state level.
WFMJ reported the petition had more than 2,100 signatures on May 6, 2026. The organizer and link weren't published.
Sets limits on earth disturbance at the contaminated Clark Street property under a 2014 environmental covenant and requires a site-specific project manual with health and safety procedures and soil and groundwater management plans.
Pennsylvania DEP and Mercer Node Development LLC / Mercer Node Properties LLC · In effect; written into the draft stormwater permit as a special conditionMawson's subsidiary, the earlier tenant of the Sharon property, seeks reinstatement of its lease and damages from the former landlord. It filed a lis pendens on September 6, 2024 partly to put Bitfarms on notice of its claimed lease.
Luna Squares Property, LLC (Mawson subsidiary) v. Vertua Property, Inc. · Ongoing as of August 14, 2026In Pennsylvania, the local zoning ordinance sets the route. A conditional use is decided by the elected governing body (supervisors, commissioners or council). A special exception or variance, and an appeal of a zoning officer’s decision, go to the Zoning Hearing Board. Each is a public hearing on a record: affected neighbors can ask for party status, cross-examine witnesses, and appeal. Municipalities can also adopt data center ordinances with enforceable standards.
Know your rights →Organized community opposition is the single most effective check on these projects in Pennsylvania. Show up to hearings, submit comment when it is taken, support legal and expert-witness costs, and press your municipality for a real ordinance. Pennsylvania municipalities cannot simply freeze applications, but a curative amendment under the Planning Code gives them a defined window to fix a defective ordinance.
How communities push back →