Tobyhanna Township, Monroe County
Tobyhanna Township created a data center overlay for the Pennsylvania Glacial Till quarry on Caughbaugh Road in December 2025. A residents' group and the Stoddartsville Association are asking the Zoning Hearing Board to throw it out as spot zoning.
Pennsylvania Glacial Till's attorney presented the overlay request on October 20, 2025, and supervisors voted to send it to the township and Monroe County planning commissions and set a December 15 hearing. On December 11, 2025 the board adopted the separate Pocono Manor ordinance (Ordinance No. 579). At the December 15 hearing about 30 people spoke, nearly all against the quarry overlay, and supervisors adopted Ordinance No. 580 by a 4 to 1 vote. On January 20, 2026 the newly reorganized board considered authorizing attorney Robert Kidwell to oppose a validity challenge, and WVIA reported in February that a residents' group had hired a lawyer to argue the overlay is unlawful spot zoning. The Zoning Hearing Board opened hearings on March 11, 2026 at the Pocono Summit fire company and continued them at the Kalahari resort on April 16, June 22 and September 18, 2026.
There's no public water system at the quarry and the surrounding community is mostly on wells, according to WVIA. The company's attorney said a closed-loop cooling system would cut water use and that wetlands would be dealt with during land development.
WVIA NewsFOX56 reported the 520-acre site sits next to the Lehigh River, is surrounded by conservation land and includes wetlands.
FOX56 (WOLF)The company's attorney said the facility would have to meet noise limits of 70 decibels, with sound studies required before and after construction, while opponents at the December 2025 vote worried the change would permanently alter an area built around nature and tourism.
FOX56 (WOLF)Neighbors testified in April 2026 that buildings up to 100 feet tall would be visible from their homes about a mile away and that security lights would wash out the night sky, and they said they didn't want to hear generators at night.
FOX56 (WOLF)Speakers at the December 15, 2025 hearing said their electric rates were already rising and that current power infrastructure couldn't support a data center without spreading the cost to everyone.
Tobyhanna TownshipA Caughbaugh Road neighbor raised concerns at the December 2025 hearing about traffic entering and leaving Route 115 and Locust Ridge Road.
Tobyhanna TownshipTactics: Hired a lawyer and filed a substantive validity challenge to Ordinance No. 580 before the Zoning Hearing Board; members testify at the hearings.
28/22 News calls the group Tobyhanna Township Residents Against Caughbaugh Road Data Center (TTRACRDC).
Tactics: Read a letter opposing the overlay at the December 15, 2025 hearing and is a named challenger in the Zoning Hearing Board appeal.
No website or social media page was found.
Tactics: Publicizes the Caughbaugh Road proposal, lists nearby protected land and points supporters to the residents' group.
The society's donation page funds the society itself; the residents' group hasn't posted a separate fundraiser that we found.
The challengers argue Ordinance No. 580 is unlawful spot zoning that benefits a single landowner, contradicts the purpose of the rural residential district and has no bearing on public health, safety or welfare, and they ask the board to declare it invalid.
The Stoddartsville Association and neighboring residents (challengers); Tobyhanna Township, whose supervisors considered authorizing attorney Robert Kidwell to oppose the challenge; Pennsylvania Glacial Till, LLC, represented by attorney Matthew McCue · Hearings held March 11, April 16, June 22 and September 18, 2026; no decision reported as of October 22, 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 →