SOUTH WHITEHALL TOWNSHIP, Pa. – A data center developer will continue its push this week for a hyperscale facility near Parkland High School.
The South Whitehall Township Planning Commission is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at Springhouse Middle School, where Edged Data Centers will again present its Project Atlas plans.
The commission typically meets at the township's municipal building on Walbert Avenue, but its meeting on the data center proposal is expected to draw a large crowd, which the school's auditorium can better accommodate.
Edged in January proposed building six data centers spanning more than 5 million square feet on a 410-acre plot of underdeveloped farmland.
Those plans have been significantly scaled back amid ongoing public scrutiny throughout the first half of 2026.
Edged met resistance from residents and some officials in January when the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission reviewed its plans for the site at 2493 N. Cedar Crest Boulevard, just across the street from Parkland High School.
LVPC member Christopher Amato said he was shocked by the size of the initial plan, calling it equivalent to five Parkland High Schools or more than four Lehigh Valley Malls.
The developer is now looking to build three data centers covering about 1.5 million square feet as well as an administrative building and a warehouse.
And the commission identified numerous concerns, including noise during construction and the data centers’ operation, the buildings’ sizes and potential effects on air and water quality.
The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission took another look at the proposal last month after Edged downsized its aims.
The developer is now looking to build three data centers covering about 1.5 million square feet as well as an administrative building and a warehouse that would each fill about 40,000 square feet of space.
The new layout of the complex would double the distance between data center facilities and properties to their north, and Edged pledged to consider renewable and carbon-free energy sources, according to the LVPC’s review in June.
On its website detailing the Project Atlas proposal, Edged touts “quiet operations” and zero water usage as key highlights. The complex would become the largest taxpayer in Lehigh County, according to the company, which says it would cover the cost of infrastructure needs.
The South Whitehall Planning Commission was due to review the new proposal June 11, but the developer asked for more time to prepare for the meeting.
The township's public forum comes as data centers become increasingly popular in Pennsylvania.
Opinion polls show residents are skeptical about energy-hungry data centers as utility costs escalate, and municipal meetings on proposed data center ordinances and projects have been among the best-attended in years.
Politicians have taken notice. The state House passed a bill that would create a six-month moratorium on data center applications, and state Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Bucks/Lehigh, introduced legislation that would allow municipalities to set their own 18-month moratorium on applications.
Coleman also is looking to eliminate a sales-tax exemption for data centers that is projected to cost the state about $200 million in the next fiscal year and $2 billion by 2031.