Archbald Borough, Lackawanna County
Green Mountain 6 LLC wants to build seven two-story data centers with 196 diesel backup generators on about 271 acres of the old Stavola quarry east of the Casey Highway. Borough council's conditional use hearings are still going, and the Planning Commission has already given the plans preliminary approval.
Archbald Borough Council created the data center overlay district on November 24, 2025, making data centers a conditional use. Green Mountain 6 LLC filed its conditional use application on January 23, 2026, which the borough logged as received January 26, and attorney Jeffrey Wilhelm presented it to the Planning Commission on February 4. The developer submitted land development plans on February 25, and on March 4 the Planning Commission sent its advisory comments on the conditional use to council. The first conditional use hearing on March 19, 2026 drew a packed auditorium, where the developer's engineer described seven two-story buildings with 28 diesel generators each. PPL announced on March 25 a new substation and switchyard on either side of Salem Road near the quarry. The Planning Commission granted preliminary land development approval on May 6, the second hearing on May 11 covered air permits and traffic, and the third on June 18 focused on the sound study and gave the Valley View School District party status. A fourth hearing set for August 6 was later listed by the borough for September 30, 2026.
Update, October 26, 2026. As of October 26, 2026, Archbald's conditional use page lists the fifth Project Green Mountain hearing for November 12, 2026 at 5 p.m. in the Valley View High School auditorium, continued from the September 30, 2026 hearing.
The campus would have 196 diesel backup generators, and at the May 11 hearing the applicant's air permitting expert couldn't answer council's questions about cumulative air quality impacts or a facility-wide emissions inventory, according to Stop Archbald Data Centers' hearing summary.
Stop Archbald Data CentersEach generator would hold about 10,000 gallons of fuel, close to 2 million gallons on a roughly 270-acre site zoned for coal mining, where residents worry about abandoned mine workings, 28/22 News reported.
WBRE/WYOU 28/22 NewsThe applicant's acoustic consultant acknowledged that predicted sound at two homes equals the 45-decibel nighttime limit with no margin, and that one monitoring microphone was mounted against a tree and its reading lowered by 2 decibels; objectors say the study measured at the wrong property lines.
Stop Archbald Data CentersAt the May 11, 2026 hearing the traffic engineer confirmed no traffic impact assessment had been completed and counts were taken on a single day, according to Stop Archbald Data Centers' hearing summary.
Stop Archbald Data CentersPPL plans a new 500/230 kV Archbald Mountain Substation and Winton Switchyard on either side of Salem Road near the Stavola quarry, with a 250-foot-wide right-of-way for new 230 kV lines; Green Mountain's application mentions a PPL-owned switchyard.
WVIA NewsThe developer says the campus would create about 350 permanent jobs and about 1,500 temporary construction jobs and would make a one-time $1.25 million payment to the borough.
WBRE/WYOU 28/22 NewsPennsylvania American Water's serviceability letter acknowledges a requested average demand of up to 14,000 gallons a day.
Stop Archbald Data CentersLeaders: Tamara Misewicz-Healey (co-founder)
Tactics: Members in yellow shirts pack the conditional use hearings, hand out signs and circulate petitions, and the co-founder cross-examines the developer's witnesses; the group also posts hearing summaries, sells yard signs and shirts to fund legal costs and helped lead an October 2026 bus tour past the proposed sites.
The group's Green Mountain page tracks hearing dates, key documents and its summaries of each hearing. It also brought the court appeal of the overlay ordinance under which Green Mountain applied.
Residents argue Ordinance No. 04-2025, the overlay ordinance under which Green Mountain applied, was improperly developed and enacted. The case doesn't name Green Mountain 6 LLC, but its outcome could affect the zoning the project relies on.
Archbald residents backed by Stop Archbald Data Centers (appellants); Archbald Borough; Archbald I LLC, which moved to dismiss · Active; Archbald I LLC's motion to dismiss for lack of standing was denied on July 15, 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 →