Tobyhanna Township, Monroe County
Pocono Manor Investors asked Tobyhanna Township to allow data centers on part of its resort-district land at Pocono Manor, and supervisors adopted Ordinance No. 579 in December 2025 making them a permitted use there. No developer, tenant or building plan has been filed.
Pocono Manor Investors filed its petition for a data center zoning amendment in May 2025. At a September 15, 2025 public hearing on an overlay version of Ordinance No. 579, supervisors voted 3 to 2 to send it back for revisions as a permitted use in the Tourist Development Project District with tighter rules. On October 20, 2025 the board unanimously sent the rewritten ordinance to the township and county planning commissions and set a hearing, and it was on the township Planning Commission's November 6 agenda. Supervisors held the hearing and unanimously adopted Ordinance No. 579 on December 11, 2025. Four days later they adopted a separate overlay for the Pennsylvania Glacial Till quarry, and the solicitor said the threat of a validity challenge was gone once the Pocono Manor ordinance passed. Inside Climate News reported in August 2026 that the township now allows data centers in two places, the Glacial Till quarry and a site behind a resort and water park.
If a data center here isn't served by a public water system, the draft ordinance requires a DEP water withdrawal permit for its wells, Delaware River Basin Commission review for withdrawals of 100,000 gallons a day or more, and a hydrogeologic study showing neighbors won't be harmed.
Tobyhanna TownshipThe draft ordinance caps data center noise at 60 decibels at exterior lines next to homes, or up to 70 where existing noise is already high, and requires a sound study with the plans and another 18 months after operations begin.
Tobyhanna TownshipThe draft ordinance allows buildings up to 100 feet tall, not counting rooftop equipment and screening, on lots of at least 25 acres, with 200-foot building and 300-foot equipment setbacks from neighboring homes.
Tobyhanna TownshipManaging partner Jim Cahill said the site has 69 kV power and an abundance of water on it, and Supervisor Ted Wolski raised concerns before the vote about what a data center would do to neighbors' electric bills and nearby exceptional value streams.
Tobyhanna TownshipLeaders: Patrick McDonnell (president)
Tactics: Testified at the September 15, 2025 hearing that the township should make data centers a conditional use, and urges municipalities to tighten zoning for data centers.
PennFuture isn't a local group, and no local group has formally challenged Ordinance No. 579.
In 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 →