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1 data center project in Penn Forest Township

Who decides here: the Township Supervisors (in some larger townships, the Board of Commissioners) of Penn Forest Township votes on zoning. The Carbon County Planning Commission usually reviews big projects too.

In Penn Forest Township

Proposed

Penn Forest Township data center (Route 903 and Maury Road)

Penn Forest Township, Carbon County

750 acres

🕒 Aug 2026: The zoning board threw out a separate challenge to the data center ordinance because no …

Nearby (within 15 miles)

Proposedabout 10 miles away

DTA Alliance data center campus (Lower Towamensing Township)

Lower Towamensing Township, Carbon County

700 acres

🕒 Sept 10, 2026: About 20 people attended a planning commission meeting raising water, noise and property…

Proposedabout 12 miles away

Pennsylvania Glacial Till data center overlay (Tobyhanna Township)

Tobyhanna Township, Monroe County

520 acres

🕒 April 16, 2026: Zoning Hearing Board continued a hearing on residents' challenge that the overlay is ill…

Reported in the news, not confirmed yet

Proposedabout 13 miles away

Pocono Manor data center (Pocono Manor Investors, Tobyhanna Township)

Tobyhanna Township, Monroe County

🕒 Dec 11, 2025: Tobyhanna Township supervisors voted on a data center ordinance for Pocono Manor.

Proposedabout 15 miles away

Keel Infrastructure Panther Creek / Carbon Node East data center (Nesquehoning)

Nesquehoning, Carbon County

🕒 Aug 21, 2026: Keel said the closed-loop cooling system would need about 700,000 gallons to fill at the…

🗓️ Next meeting of the people who decide: Nov 2, 2026 · 7:00 PM
Penn Forest Township Board of Supervisors. We don't know yet if Penn Forest Township data center (Route 903 and Maury Road) is on the agenda. Call the office to check before you go.
Data center rules and the Mele Bros. challenge are ongoing.
📍 Municipal Building, 2010 State Route 903, Jim Thorpe (Zoom option; register in advance on the township site). Supervisors meet the 1st Monday of each month at 7 p.m. The Zoning Hearing Board hearing on the Mele Brothers substantive validity challenge (Sept. 29) was continued to a date not yet announced; the township says a new notice is coming. Planning Commission meets the 4th Monday if needed.

Local votes and rules

📜 Data center rules

Penn Forest Township supervisors voted 5-0 for Ordinance 1 of 2026, a 45-page curative zoning change for data centers. It creates a Data Center Overlay District of about 500 acres in residential land along Route 903 and Maury Road, owned by Mele Bros. Realty. It sets a 30-acre minimum lot, a 60-foot height limit, and strong rules on wells and water.

March 2, 2026Source

⚖️ Court case

Mele Bros. Realty filed a challenge saying Penn Forest Township's zoning was invalid because it left out data centers. The company wants to build a data center campus on about 750 acres. The township wrote its new overlay rules in response. A Zoning Hearing Board hearing was set for March 23, 2026.

Feb 2026Source
Built & runningBeing builtApproved, not built yetProposedStopped or cancelled

What you can do

  1. Get told first.
    We'll email you if anything changes in Penn Forest Township.
  2. Go to township meetings.
    Anyone can speak. Big projects usually need a public hearing.
  3. Ask questions in writing.
    Use our checklist.
📣 Report something here

🔔 Get told first

We'll email you when something changes in Penn Forest Township. Nothing else.

⚡ Your electric company

PPL Electric Utilities Corp. (company).

Big data centers need a lot of power. Who pays for new power lines depends on state rules. See the rules in Pennsylvania.

🙋 Open tasks here

  • When will the zoning board hear Mele Brothers Realty's challenge?
  • Will Hendricks Group Developers file a data center plan with Penn Forest Township?

How to help →