Elizabeth Township sets town hall for proposed data center

A town hall is set for Oct. 13 at the Elizabeth Forward Middle School.

Elizabeth Township’s Board of Commissioners announced Tuesday a meeting date for the public to hear about a proposed data center.

The town hall meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Elizabeth Forward Middle School auditorium.

Board President Josh Walls announced last month that they were approached regarding a proposed data center and development within the community.

“The board of commissioners believes that our responsibility is to fully understand what is being proposed, what the potential impacts will be and what that could mean for our residents before forming any conclusions,” Walls stated. “We want to hear more about this proposal alongside our community, which is why the township will be holding a public information town hall.”

According to a statement by the township, the town hall is an informational meeting only with no decision regarding the proposal being made at this meeting.

The unnamed developer will also be present at the meeting.

For the question-and-answer portion of the meeting, all questions must be submitted in advance by Oct. 10 and emailed to townhall@elizabethtwppa. com.

A moderator will present the questions to the developer at the meeting.

Walls and township Manager Tammy Firda were not able to comment further when contacted Tuesday.

Elizabeth Township is one of several municipalities in the region facing possible data center development.

Communities around the Mon Valley are now taking action, with many local governments passing moratoriums to pause any data center development, giving local officials time to review and strengthen their ordinances before any future data center proposal could move forward. Many residents where data centers have been rumored to be considered are also taking to social media to encourage community action and to sign online petitions.

Allegheny County took action this week, as county council voted unanimously to restrict data centers drawing 25 megawatts or more of electricity from being constructed on Allegheny County- owned property.

The ruling prohibits the construction, operation or establishment of large-scale data centers — and the infrastructure built specifically to support them — on countyowned land and in county- owned buildings.

The measure does not restrict data centers on privately-owned property, leaving those landuse decisions to individual municipalities. The council opted not to impose a countywide land-use ban because, under Pennsylvania law, zoning and land-use decisions involving private property are made by individual municipalities rather than the county.

Private developers could still potentially propose a data center in a municipality subject to that municipality’s zoning and other applicable laws.