On back-to-back nights last week, the Warrior Run Area Fire Department social hall at 196 White Deer Avenue hosted two meetings about the same project. On Tuesday, Oct. 27, the Gregg Township supervisors voted 3-0 to give PNK Group conditional-use approval for a data center inside part of the roughly 478,000-square-foot warehouse in the Great Stream Commons business park, along Route 15 just north of Allenwood. On Wednesday, PPL Electric Utilities set up information stations in the same room for a 230-kilovolt transmission line that would power the campus.
The approval applies only to the existing building, which was built as a warehouse and distribution center. PNK has announced a three-data-center campus on land it owns in the park. Back in April, the company described up to 300 megawatts of capacity across about 1.5 million square feet, which is roughly three times the floor area of the building that was just approved. Whether that larger campus gets built will be settled in three other places, and each one has its own decision-maker and its own calendar.
What Tuesday's approval actually allows
The supervisors attached 31 conditions to the approval, and PennLive listed many of them. Grouped by what they govern, the conditions include:
- Sound: a noise study using township-approved methods before operation, then a post-construction noise verification study within three months of the center reaching 90 percent capacity. Sound may not exceed the township ordinance's limits, and any violation must be fixed within three months. When the township directs it after a complaint, the operator must run at least 48 hours of sound monitoring.
- Placement: all noise-producing equipment must sit at least 500 feet from any sensitive receptor if fully enclosed, or 750 feet if not enclosed.
- Screening: a landscape buffer of two rows of large evergreens planted no less than 20 feet apart.
- Water: a closed-loop cooling system, with no use of private groundwater wells and no direct withdrawals from surface water for cooling.
- Emergencies: an emergency response plan, training for first responders on the specific installed systems, funding for any specialized apparatus, and an annual fire safety inspection.
- The end of the project: a decommissioning plan, backed at construction by a performance bond for 110 percent of the estimated cost of removal.
- The community: a mitigation plan covering open space and infrastructure impacts, plus a community benefits agreement with the township.
The Standard-Journal reported two more terms. Generators may run only during business hours, except in emergencies. And any "significant changes" to the site will need township land development approval first. The same paper put the building about 500 feet from the nearest homes. That is the same distance as the minimum setback for enclosed equipment, so where PNK places its equipment inside the site will matter as much as whose building it is.
PNK's statement after the meeting acknowledged this, as reported by the Standard-Journal:
"We know today's decision doesn't settle every question or concern. We take the township's conditions seriously, and we intend to earn this community's trust by how we build, how we operate and how we follow through."
The company also said there "is still a long way to go on permits and approvals," a land development plan among them. In April, PNK said it had no committed tenant, though a team member described interest in the retrofitted portion of the building.
The other three buildings wait on December's ordinance
Gregg Township's zoning ordinance does not address data centers at all. Great Stream Commons is zoned commercial manufacturing. In August, the supervisors adopted a 180-day moratorium on data center and technological development until an amendment is in place. Two amendments are now in play. PNK has applied for a curative amendment that would allow its additional centers. The township planning commission is drafting its own data center ordinance instead.
Richard Shoch, the attorney the township retained for data center issues, said the township ordinance must be approved by Dec. 14, with a public hearing held by mid-December. Before that vote, the draft has to go to the Union County commissioners for review. The township's website shows PNK's curative amendment hearing, once set for June 1, as postponed. This ordinance will decide where data centers can go anywhere in the township, so its reach goes well past the single building approved on Oct. 27. PNK's April timeline put the warehouse retrofit in 2027 and said the three new buildings would follow in 2029 only if that first phase succeeds.
The county still holds the park's deed covenants
The second gate dates to an earlier fight over the same ground. In 1990, a plan to build a hazardous waste incinerator on what is now the business park met community opposition. After U.S. Pollution Control Inc. dropped those plans, the Union County Industrial Development Corp. bought the property for $4.5 million in 1995. When the IDC went defunct in 1998, the county became the owner. As it sold off parcels, the county wrote deed covenants, restrictions and conditions into the sales.
Those covenants are why the county, not the township, controls the substation. PennLive reported that the commissioners denied PNK's substation request for lack of information, then told the company in an Oct. 16 letter to stop construction. Only work needed to secure the site, prevent environmental harm and meet safety requirements may continue, and PNK has 30 days to confirm in writing that all other work has stopped. PNK had begun the work under a building permit from Gregg Township. The letter describes what appears to be a relocated stormwater retention basin and a modified access road.
The commissioners' reasoning ties the county's decision to the township's. PNK considers the substation part of one unified campus, so the commissioners said they cannot review it on its own. A piecemeal review, they wrote, would not protect other property owners. They suggested PNK hold off on resubmitting until the supervisors act on the zoning amendment. So December's ordinance decides the township's question and also sets when the county's covenant review can restart.
PPL's line runs on a state timeline
The third gate is the power supply. PPL's preferred route is 6.8 miles of new double-circuit 230-kV line, starting at the existing Elimsport Substation near Elimsport Road and running largely southeast to a new customer facility near US Route 15. It would cross Washington and Brady townships in Lycoming County and Gregg Township in Union County, inside a new 150-foot right-of-way. Preliminary engineering puts the steel monopoles at roughly 90 to 180 feet tall, about 140 feet on average, with a dark brown coating. PPL says the route avoids farmland by crossing state game lands and U.S. Bureau of Prisons property. The Standard-Journal identified the game land as State Game Land 252.
PNK is paying the full cost of the line. The line needs Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission review and approval. Construction would tentatively start in late 2027 and finish by the end of 2029. PPL said the project would be re-evaluated if the data center plans were dropped. According to its FAQ, PPL planned to start buying easements from landowners along the route after the Oct. 28 open house, with values based on an analysis from a certified third-party appraiser. PPL takes questions at [email protected] and posts materials at pplallenwoodproject.com. This post is general information, not legal or financial advice, so any landowner with an easement question should confirm their situation with their own attorney or advisor.
Where each piece stands
| Decision | Who decides | Status after the Oct. 27 vote |
|---|---|---|
| Data center in part of the existing warehouse | Gregg Township supervisors | Approved 3-0 on Oct. 27 with 31 conditions; land development plan still required |
| Additional data centers | Gregg Township, through a new ordinance or PNK's curative amendment | Township draft due by Dec. 14; hearing by mid-December |
| Substation | Union County, under the park's deed covenants | Denied; Oct. 16 stop-work letter |
| 230-kV transmission line | Pennsylvania PUC | Preferred route announced; construction tentatively late 2027 to 2029 |
The money follows the same order. PNK says it will provide a fire truck valued at about $1.2 million to $1.5 million and $800,000 for workforce training. It also says it will pay the township about $1 million a year, on top of applicable taxes, once the data center is occupied and operating. Later development would trigger a second phase of payments. The township's website describes an operating budget of about $250,000 and about 10 miles of township roads, so the promised annual payment would be roughly four times that budget. PNK says timing and details will be set out in written agreements under the township's conditions.
The public meetings left this year
After the supervisors' Nov. 2 meeting, the township's posted calendar lists these meetings through mid-December:
- Nov. 11, 3 p.m.: Gregg Township Municipal Authority, 16436 US Route 15.
- Nov. 18, 7:30 p.m.: Planning Commission, township building on Russell Road.
- Dec. 7, 4:30 p.m.: Board of Supervisors, township building on Russell Road.
- Dec. 9, 3 p.m.: Municipal Authority, 16436 US Route 15.
- Dec. 16, 7:30 p.m.: Planning Commission, Russell Road.
The date of the data center ordinance hearing has not been posted yet. Under the timeline Shoch described, it has to happen by mid-December, ahead of the Dec. 14 deadline.
If you own property near Great Stream Commons or along the proposed line and want to talk through how these pending decisions could come up in a sale or purchase, the team at Century 21 Colonial Real Estate is glad to sit down and go over the record with you. Contact Us.
