For many, Carbon County is a playground full of features that help people enjoy themselves. Its mountains, forests and streams offer a place where visitors relax and unwind, getting away from stress of everyday life.

But lately, some might see it as a proving ground for producing something that will influence the way we live for years to come.

The county plays host to two concepts in developing data centers – one in the woods of Penn Forest Twp. and the other on the western edge of Nesquehoning — that have stirred debate over land use, tax revenues and the local economy.

The proposals tell of a county weighing competing concepts of growth, one that plants a new industrial footprint into forested land and the other that gives a longtime industrial site a new purpose in the digital age.

In Nesquehoning, Bitfarms Ltd. — a Canadian firm that’s been rebranded as Keel Infrastructure — plans to build a data center at the Panther Creek Energy site, a coal refuse power plant it still operates.

The project has already earned the approval of the borough’s planning and zoning boards. The land is already industrial and much of the transmission structure is already in place, save for a new connection proposed by PPL.

Bitfarms has also agreed to follow the terms of an ordinance that is soon to be considered for passage by the borough council.

Supporters feel the project is a chance to turn an industrial site in a distressed area into a taxpaying asset without affecting untouched land.

Residents who live near the plant have questions. Environmentalists have filed suit against the Bitfarms-owned cogeneration facility there as well as the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. They’re concerned about noise, emissions from burning of shredded tires in the waste coal it uses and potential water supply issues.

To the east, Penn Forest Township is dealing with a different kind of proposal.

Mele Brothers Realty of Glenside wants to build a multibuilding data center campus off Route 903 and Maury Road. The area is better known for vacation homes and quiet woods than for industrial uses.

The township was cornered by the state’s land use laws.

Their choice was a tough call. The township could choose an expensive legal battle they may lose or adopt a curative amendment that allows the use under certain conditions.

Penn Forest decided in favor of the latter, creating an overlay district that opened the door to the Mele plan.

Almost immediately, the decision split the community, with some arguing that the township needs a more stable tax base that helps with rising costs and school district demands.

Opponents see the project as threatening the rural feel of the township. They cite stormwater runoff, wildlife concerns, water supply issues, forest loss and the din of cooling equipment wafting through trees left standing.

Mele Bros. has submitted a challenge to the zoning overlay. The matter will go before the Penn Forest Township Zoning Hearing Board at 6 p.m. Monday, March 23, at Penn’s Peak, 325 Maury Road, Jim Thorpe.

Together, the projects reveal a stark contrast in philosophies.

In Penn Forest, forest and farmland would be disturbed, but Nesquehoning repurposes the ravages of King Coal.

Nesquehoning has already permitted their project, while Penn Forest shuffled zoning laws to accommodate their proposal.

Penn Forest doesn’t want industry creeping into its greenfields, and Nesquehoning balks at the idea of industrial intensification.

One project challenges Penn Forest’s rural character. The other tests a small borough’s trust in a new industry.

Both will generate tax revenue and some jobs. Both raise some environmental issues.

The county needs an economic boost, especially in school districts struggling to stay afloat. Officials know that residents are wary of what might — or might not happen.

State Sen. Dave Argall, after a policy committee hearing last August, said that while many data centers are being proposed, only a few are going to be built.

“We don’t need all of them,” he said in published reports. “We need some, but you know, most of them will never be constructed.”

Recently, he said there appears to be local support for the Nesquehoning proposal.

He said that as information becomes available, residents are concerned about where data centers might be located, in addition to worries about the water they might use.

The lawmaker leans toward locating data centers on old coal land or abandoned industrial sites where they would be far away from homes.

Argall explained there are good sites and there are other very unpopular locations.

“And it’s not that hard to figure out which ones are which,” he said.

Meanwhile, Carbon County heads toward a crossroads of deciding what kind of growth it wants and what trade-offs they’ll need to get it.

ED SOCHA

tneditor@tnonline.com

Ed Socha is a retired newspaper editor with more than 45 years’ experience in community journalism.

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.