Smithfield Township, Monroe County
Developers tied to Legend Properties of Conshohocken want conditional use approval for a two-story, 500,000 square foot data center and electric substation on about 39 acres of the Smithfield Gateway site off Route 209 in Smithfield Township, Monroe County, and no end user has been named.
Legend Properties began assembling about 120 acres in Marshalls Creek in 2017 for Smithfield Gateway, a planned mix of shopping, offices and apartments, and the township approved a preliminary land development plan for all 91.96 acres, with conditions set in 2021. A St. Luke's facility and a Wawa already sit in front of the proposed data center site. Smithfield adopted data center zoning rules after a hearing on October 22, 2025. On November 26, 2025 the owners, DEPG Mosier Associates LP and DEPG of Shawnee II LP, filed a sketch plan for data centers on phases 1B, 2A and 2B, and in January 2026 DEP extended the site's stream crossing permit to December 31, 2027. The conditional use application followed on April 1, 2026, first showing two buildings and a substation. On May 6 supervisors adopted Resolution 621 to start a municipal curative amendment, the township engineer issued his first review June 18, and on August 10 the applicants revised the plans to one two-story building of 500,000 square feet with a FirstEnergy load study. On August 12 supervisors adopted the curative amendment, creating an H-1 heavy industrial district and dropping data centers from the ED and M-1 districts. The engineer's second review came September 11, and the Monroe County Planning Commission also commented. The township set an October 21 Planning Commission meeting and an October 28 hearing; the applicants asked on October 20 to cancel both, the township refused, and on October 21 they agreed the October 28 session would cover only party status.
The Brodhead Creek Regional Authority told the applicants the project isn't eligible for a water will-serve letter. The authority holds a 400,000 gallon-a-day allocation from East Stroudsburg, the township uses about 150,000, and about 250,000 remains for all new development; the applicants say they'd use closed-loop or air-cooled systems and could truck in water if capacity falls short.
Kaplin Stewart (posted by Smithfield Township)Noise sources are rooftop HVAC behind a parapet, ground-level chillers behind a sound wall and generators in acoustic enclosures with exhaust silencers, laid out so the building blocks equipment from homes to the north. The applicants say the equipment will be designed to meet the township noise ordinance.
Langan (posted by Smithfield Township)800+ signatures Better Path PA.
FirstEnergy's study found thermal criteria violations from the 150 and 250 megavolt-ampere load additions, with reinforcement work to be identified by PPL, and requires a new four-breaker 230 kV substation (expandable to nine breakers) tapping PPL's Foxhill to Shawnee line.
FirstEnergy (posted by Smithfield Township)DEP permit E45-612 for the Smithfield Gateway site allows relocating about 200 feet of an unnamed tributary to Brodhead Creek into roughly 559 feet of 48-inch pipe, plus road and utility crossings and a 72-inch stormwater outfall; the data center plan sends stormwater through that system to Brodhead Creek.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (posted by Smithfield Township)Leaders: Ozge Feridun
Tactics: Coalition building, petitions, legislative advocacy
Engaged on Smithfield Gateway (P024) and statewide energy-justice issues.
Seeks approval under Section 27-511.22 of the zoning ordinance for a data center, data center accessory uses and a substation on phases 1B, 2A and 2B of Smithfield Gateway. The applicants' attorney has said they'd ask the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas to stop the hearing if they weren't given time to revise plans; the October 21 agreement avoided that.
DEPG Mosier Associates LP and DEPG of Shawnee II LP (applicants, attorney Marc Kaplin); Smithfield Township (solicitor Ronold Karasek) · Hearing opens October 28, 2026 (party status only); substantive session expected about a month laterIn 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 →