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Contested

Project Boson (Archbald)

Archbald Borough, Lackawanna County

Project Boson would replace the former Highway Auto Parts salvage yard on Eynon Jermyn Road with one data center of about 620,000 square feet, and a related company has proposed a 400 megawatt gas power plant across the road.

ContestedLargeTBD/UndisclosedBrownfieldNEPA
At a glance

The project by the numbers

StatusApplication Filed
Building area619,925 sq ft
Site70.5 acres
Water (max)0.0085 MGD
First announced2025-04-10
Target onlineTBD

Single-building Project Boson awaits land development approval on an old Archbald junkyard

The number that mattersOne safety report by KCI Technologies studied both sides of the old salvage yard together, about 70 acres for the data center and 17 acres for the gas plant, and council members noted the report kept referring to a data center when describing the power plant site.
Developer
PDC Realty LLC, managed by Jim Marzolino, president of Kriger Construction, which filed through Archbald Data & Energy Center LLC. Attorney Michael Mey of Mey & Sulla represents the project and KCI Technologies is its engineer. Marzolino's Five Up Realty also sold the Project Gravity land.
Tenant
No end user has been named publicly, and the developer hasn't said who would use the buildings.
Current stage
The project was filed in April 2025 under the 2023 zoning, where data centers are a permitted use, so no conditional use hearing is required. The Planning Commission turned down the first preliminary plan request in September 2025 for lack of information, the developer submitted a revised plan on January 28, 2026, and the plan has been listed with no update at each commission meeting since, most recently September 2, 2026. No zoning permit has been issued. The related Essential Energy power plant is going through conditional use hearings before borough council.
Decision body
Archbald Borough Council has the final vote on land development, with the Planning Commission reviewing plans first, and the borough zoning officer decides the zoning permit. The state Department of Environmental Protection and the Lackawanna County Conservation District review stormwater and wetlands, and PennDOT reviews the driveway. Borough council decides the separate Essential Energy power plant application after hearings.
Top issues
Neighbors raise contamination left from decades as a salvage yard, more than 8 acres of forested wetlands, a building up to 70 feet tall near homes on three sides, 748 added daily trips on Eynon Jermyn Road, and the linked 400 megawatt gas plant planned across the road near Ed Staback Memorial Park and Valley View Intermediate School.
Key opponents
Stop Archbald Data Centers and attorney Justin Richards, who have challenged both Project Boson and the Essential Energy power plant, along with neighbors who have spoken about Boson at nearly every Planning Commission meeting since May 2026. Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan opposes the Archbald projects generally.
Key supporters
No organized local supporters have been reported. Consultants for Essential Energy argue the region's grid needs new power plants because electricity demand is growing faster than supply.

How we got here

Archbald Data & Energy Center LLC filed a zoning permit application on April 10, 2025 after PDC Realty bought the Highway Auto Parts salvage yard, first proposing three two-story data centers. The Planning Commission denied the preliminary land development request on September 10, 2025 for lack of information. The developer submitted a revised land development plan and a lot consolidation plan on January 28, 2026, and by March 2026 the project was a single building of about 620,000 square feet. Essential Energy LLC applied on March 12, 2026 to build a gas power plant on the salvage yard land across the road, and borough council opened conditional use hearings on it on April 27, 2026.

Update, October 26, 2026. On September 29, 2026 the sixth conditional use hearing on the related Essential Energy power plant was continued to October 27, 2026, according to the borough's posted hearing schedule.

What is at stake

Impacts raised and open questions

Visual and light

High

Part of 51-building Archbald cluster (6 projects, 14% of borough land).

Stop Archbald

Energy costs and the grid

High

Stop Archbald Facebook organizing >5,000 followers.

Stop Archbald

Environmental justice and site legacy

High

Six data center campuses proposed by five developers would cover roughly 14 percent of Archbald Borough and displace an existing trailer park, according to reporting by Spotlight PA.

Grist, co-published by Spotlight PA

Energy costs and the grid

High

Lackawanna County has drawn at least a dozen data center proposals since 2024, and County Commissioner Bill Gaughan has written to the Governor and legislative leaders asking for a three year statewide moratorium.

Grist, co-published by Spotlight PA

Air quality

High

Testimony at the Essential Energy hearings put the gas plant's carbon dioxide output at about 1.4 million tons a year and showed it would count as a new major pollution source under the federal Prevention of Significant Deterioration program, according to Stop Archbald Data Centers' hearing summaries.

Stop Archbald Data Centers

Traffic

Medium

The project would add 748 vehicle trips a day to Eynon Jermyn Road through a new full-access driveway, according to Stop Archbald Data Centers' review of the traffic filing.

Stop Archbald Data Centers

Water

Medium

The site holds more than 8 acres of forested wetlands and needs 20 separate stormwater controls, and Pennsylvania American Water confirmed service of up to 8,500 gallons a day, according to Stop Archbald Data Centers.

Stop Archbald Data Centers

Visual and light

Medium

Plans call for a 619,925 square foot building up to 70 feet tall that the 2023 zoning lets sit as close as 40 feet from side yards and 50 feet from back yards of homes in the Highlands and Hawks Ridge, according to Stop Archbald Data Centers.

Stop Archbald Data Centers

Noise and vibration

Medium

The related gas plant's seven-page noise study found the plant would meet borough limits, but its author admitted no equipment had been chosen, no baseline sound was measured in nearby neighborhoods and he hadn't consulted the borough's noise expert.

FOX56 (WOLF)
Community response

Who is organizing against it

Stop Archbald Data Centers

Archbald Borough and neighboring Mid Valley communities, including Jermyn

Leaders: Tamara Misewicz-Healey and Justin Healey (co-founders)

Tactics: Packs every council meeting, Planning Commission meeting and conditional use hearing; hired attorney Justin Richards and outside experts on public health and noise; filed the court appeal of the borough's data center overlay ordinance; sells yard signs and t-shirts to fund legal costs; holds public forums and bus tours.

FOX56 reported about 7,900 Facebook group members in April 2026, and Resilience reported about 12,000 by June 2026. The group's website tracks each Archbald project, hearing dates and court dockets, and its GoFundMe raises money for legal expenses.

Website · Facebook · Donate

Timeline

How it has unfolded

  • 2025-04-10The developer files a zoning permit application for a data center on the Highway Auto Parts salvage yard, according to Stop Archbald Data Centers. Stop Archbald Data Centers
  • 2025-08-18Data Center Dynamics reports PDC Realty bought the salvage yard for $1.575 million and proposed three two-story data centers of about 293,000 square feet each. Data Center Dynamics
  • 2025-09-10The Planning Commission denies the preliminary land development request for lack of information, according to Stop Archbald Data Centers. Stop Archbald Data Centers
  • 2025-11-24Council creates a Data Center Overlay District by a 4 to 2 vote with one abstention. Dave Moran, Francis Burke, Marie Andreoli and Richard Guman voted yes, Laura Lewis and Erin Owen voted no, and John Shnipes III abstained because his family's property is involved in one of the projects. The borough manager told residents a single data center could cover more than 60 percent of the borough budget, and the overflow crowd reacted with anger, accusing council of having decided in advance Resilience / CASSE
  • 2026-01-28The developer submits a revised land development plan and a lot consolidation plan and says natural gas won't be used on the data center site. Stop Archbald Data Centers
  • 2026-03-12Essential Energy LLC applies for a conditional use to build a natural gas power plant on the salvage yard land across Eynon Jermyn Road. Archbald Borough
  • 2026-03-27Council votes 5 to 0 against the conditional use application for Archbald I LLC and Project Scott, after three council members including the council president resigned amid mounting pressure Resilience / CASSE
  • 2026-04-27Council holds the first conditional use hearing on Essential Energy's roughly 400 megawatt gas plant. FOX56 (WOLF)
  • 2026-05-06The Planning Commission votes not to give advisory comments on the Essential Energy application because the applicant provided too little information. Archbald Borough
  • 2026-05-14About 400 residents attend the public meeting on the Wildcat Ridge campus, one of six data center campuses proposed in the borough by five developers, together covering roughly 14 percent of Archbald Scranton Times-Tribune
  • 2026-07-21At the fourth power plant hearing, the engineer's safety report covering both the data center and power plant sites is questioned for repeatedly referring to a data center. FOX56 (WOLF)
  • 2026-09-02Project Boson's preliminary land development plan is listed at the Planning Commission with no update. Archbald Borough
  • 2026-09-29The sixth conditional use hearing on the Essential Energy power plant is continued to October 27, 2026. Archbald Borough
News

Coverage of this project

Sources

Know your rights

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 →

Take action

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 →