"I've Never Heard Roars Like This Except For A Basketball Game" As PA Borough Votes Down Permit For Giant Datacenter

[hatrack]

Council members in Archbald, Pennsylvania, have voted down Texas-based Provident Realty Advisors’ application to build a giant data center after months of growing public outcry against plans to build several of the computing facilities in the borough of about 7,500 people.

About 200 local residents showed up for the March 27 special meeting held at 1 p.m., many wearing yellow shirts, to register their opposition to the projects, according to local news reports. The crowd erupted in applause after Tamara Misewicz-Healey, a leader of the local movement calling for stricter data center zoning limits, listed a series of arguments for the council to deny Provident Realty Advisors permission to build the proposed computing cluster of 18 buildings, known as Archbald 1 LLC.

“I’ve never heard roars like this except for a basketball game,” said newly appointed Archbald Borough Council President Louis Rapoch (R), seated with other council members in an old gymnasium on the third floor of Archbald Borough Building. Archbald Borough Council had hastily convened the March 27 vote, after it was legally required to cancel a March 23 public hearing on the project after the local newspaper made an error in printing a notice of it. Since Provident Realty Advisors did not agree to reschedule the March 23 hearing, Archbald needed to vote on the project by the close of business on March 27, or the data center zoning application would have been automatically approved, in line with provisions under Pennsylvania state law.

EDIT

Provident Realty Advisors did not immediately respond to questions about whether it would appeal Archbald Borough’s decision, or attempt to pursue its project under a previous October 2025 zoning application, which did not require a special vote for approval. The developers’ initial application included 22 buildings across two sites, but was restricted by height and sound parameters in line with the borough’s zoning rules at that time. Archbald is expected to vote on two more data center projects in the coming weeks and months — among five announced in the borough in 2025 across six sites — making it one of the most hotly contested municipalities for data centers in the country.

Ed. - Emphasis added.

EDIT/END

https://www.desmog.com/2026/03/31/archbald-pennsylvania-residents-vote-no-data-center-provident-realty-advisors/

[GiqueCee]

1. So, lemme get this straight...

... if Provident Realty Advisors are based in Texas, why don't they build their miserable monstrosity in Texas?
Oh, right. They don't want that shit in their own back yard, so let's exploit and defile someone else's back yard, while depleting their aquifers, and jacking up their utility bills to cool and power said monstrosity.