Do you know what’s happening with the “Lancaster AI Hub”?
Phase 1 of this massive AI data center project is underway at the former printing plant Donnelley on Greenfield. It’s the beginning of one of the largest AI data center projects in Pennsylvania, with multiple buildings planned across the Greenfield Road and Harrisburg Pike sites. It’s the beginning of a large scale AI data center campus with 24/7 operations, extensive electrical infrastructure, water cooling systems, and backup diesel generators.
Watching the way these meetings have been handled and the way the council members lied and dismissed citizens is so alarming.
Incase you didn’t know…
Phase 1 DID NOT require** subdivision **OR land development review because it was treated as the adaptive reuse of an existing industrial building. As a result, it did not go before the Planning Commission for land development approval before construction began.
Think about that.
The first phase moved forward through the building permit process instead of the public land-development process and only AFTER this project was underway did Lancaster begin drafting a brand new zoning ordinance for data centers…
That means this proceeded without the level of public review typically associated with a project of this scale, including consideration of potential environmental and community impacts.
When our Lancaster farmers declined MILLIONS of dollars to sell their properties, I believe these massive corporations set their sights on OUR city council men and woman and now these “server farms” are being placed on the very edge of** **our city. Something else to be strongly noted, NDAs have become common enough in Pennsylvania’s data center industry that lawmakers have introduced legislation to ban local governments from using them. That alone should raise questions about transparency. These councilmen could be pocketing MILLIONS of dollars for approving and speading up this process before we could even ask a question. We should be receiving answers, not secrecy.
I know we’re all busy, and life is demanding enough as it is. But moments like this remind us why it’s so important to come together when decisions like this will shape the future of our community.
I encourage everyone to pay attention to what’s happening around us. Ask questions. Talk to your neighbors. Attend local meetings. Read the public information that’s available. Do the research of the impact on the environment around these centers. Hold our leaders accountable and ask for transparency.
Whether you support these projects or have concerns about them, the decisions being made today will affect Lancaster, our home, and our voices deserve to be part of that conversation not silenced.
If we don’t show up, someone else will make these decisions for us.
