Lower Towamensing Township has announced the curative amendment hearing filed for a data center will take place at 7 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Aquashicola Volunteer Fire Company.

Save Carbon County is asking residents to attend the Lower Towamensing supervisors meeting Wednesday at 7 p.m. to request that the hearing be moved until after Christmas when more people will be able to participate.

“We need neighbors and local residents to crowd the meeting room to make a convincing case,” posted Lynn Shupp, whose land borders the proposed project.

“The hearing has now been rescheduled for Thursday, December 17th — only 7 days before Christmas Eve! The new date will prevent many neighbors and local residents from attending because of holiday conflicts,” she added.

The proposed data center developers are the owners of the Alliance Sand Quarry, which is DTA Alliance LLC and Murphy’s Meadow LLC.

Murphy’s Meadow is owned by DT Allen Contracting in New Jersey, and has 368 acres are under contract, including the Blue Shamrock Golf Course.

The proposal in Lower Towamensing encompasses the Blue Shamrock Golf Club and land at the sand quarry, and is proposed to be adjacent to Fireline Road, housing in Bowmanstown, and Princeton and Edgemont Avenue in West Palmerton. There are 14 buildings planned over 700 acres with a total footprint of 4.5 million square feet.

The buildings range in size from 125,000 square feet to 650,000 square feet.

DTA filed the challenge to the zoning ordinance Sept. 1, challenging the township’s zoning ordinance, alleging it is defective because it fails to provide for data center use anywhere in the municipality.

The amendment proposes allowing data centers as a permitted use within an overlay district encompassing the Resort & Recreation and Rural Conservation zoning districts.

The data complex footprint winds around four private residences.

The board will hear from the people who they grant standing to, and will also hear from members of the general public.

Residents have formed a Facebook group called Bombers Against the Data Center.

Lower Towamensing has appointed legal counsel for the case. Graham Simmons III, of Norris McLaughlin PA, was hired at the rate of $275 per hour for associates and $325 per hour for partners.

Bowmanstown

DTA Alliance LLC and Murphy’s Meadow LLC have also proposed a 375,000-square-foot data center on 55 acres near the intersection of Ore and Ridge streets in Bowmanstown.

The developers filed a curative amendment Oct. 6, arguing the borough’s zoning ordinance is defective because it does not allow data centers anywhere in the municipality. They are seeking approval to permit data centers as a conditional use within a proposed overlay district on the site, which extends toward Route 248.

While the Bowmanstown Borough zoning ordinance identifies six zoning districts within its boundaries, it does not currently provide for a data center use in any of its zoning districts.

DTA challenges that this provision does not cure the zoning ordinance’s failure to provide for a legitimate use — a data center.

DTA promises a five-year refresh cycle for data center equipment, meaning about 20% of the equipment in each building will be replaced annually, a standard industry practice.