Allen Township, Northampton County
Supervisors approved Prologis's plan to convert a million-square-foot warehouse on Liberty Drive into a data center that a company representative said could run at about 300 megawatts, and no tenant has been named.
Allen Township approved the warehouse in 2016 and it was finished in 2023. On March 24, 2026 supervisors unanimously approved amended plans to use it as a data center and sent the data center question to the Planning Commission, which on April 20 began drafting rules and suggested an overlay district west of Howertown Road. The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission's planning committee reviewed the project on April 21 and asked for more information. Supervisors authorized advertising the overlay ordinance on April 28 and hired an acoustical consultant to review noise standards. At the July 14 meeting officials said there was no end user and that they had received death threats over the project. Supervisors adopted Ordinance 2026-01 on August 11, DEP published Prologis's stormwater permit on August 15, and supervisors approved the substation lot subdivision on September 8, 2026.
A Prologis representative told supervisors the facility could run at about 300 megawatts, built out in phases as power becomes available, with two feeds from PPL's Siegfried Substation and a privately funded substation that steps power down from 138,000 volts to 35,000 volts.
Allen TownshipPlans call for outdoor backup generators, and the township hired an acoustical consultant to take baseline readings before the data center starts operating so later noise levels can be compared. The township solicitor said the operator would have to add sound treatment until it meets the limits if post-construction tests fail.
Allen TownshipPrologis described external diesel generators for backup power, with fuel stored in dual-vault tanks, placed on equipment pads where trailer parking is now.
Allen TownshipSupervisors said the closed-loop cooling system would lose about as much water as a building full of employees using restrooms, and Supervisor Paul Link said the Northampton Borough Municipal Authority agreed to sell the water and no wells will be used.
Allen TownshipPrologis says traffic would fall from the up to 900 vehicles a day allowed for the warehouse to fewer than 100 a day.
WFMZ-TV 69 NewsIn 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 →