Gregg Township supervisors approve data center moratorium, PNK's still on the table

Allenwood, Pa. — Supervisors approved a temporary moratorium on applications for data centers at their meeting Thursday, buying time to finish a curative amendment to the township’s zoning ordinance.

The board of supervisors unanimously adopted Resolution 2026-03 during a special meeting held at 3 p.m. Aug. 20. Board chair David Masser, supervisor Michael Keiser, supervisor Arthur Masser, and secretary Jodi Willow were present. The township solicitor was absent. Six residents attended.

Under the moratorium, new applications for data center or “technical development” cannot be submitted for a period not to exceed 180 days, or until earlier terminated by official action of the board of supervisors. However, the moratorium doesn’t include PNK Group’s pending data center application, which continues to be processed separately.

Asked if the moratorium would apply to PNK, the board said no. The purpose of the moratorium is to prevent further applications from being filed while the curative amendment process moves forward.

At the meeting, supervisors said the sooner deadline is 45 days after next Tuesday’s hearing on Aug. 25, when the township’s amended zoning ordinance must be completed if it’s the last hearing in the curative process. Also, there’s no draft of an ordinance yet. Anything that has been made public to date is a proposal put forth by PNK and not a township ordinance.

Several changes have been made to next Tuesday’s hearing, based on complaints about noise and chaos at previous hearings. A sound system will be used. Anyone who talks over another person will be removed by the sheriff’s office. Residents are asked to silence cell phones. The room will be set to 64 degrees, and the entrance doors will remain closed. Public comment at the end of the hearing will be limited to three minutes per speaker, but there is no limit on the amount of time residents can ask questions of the board during the hearing.

The board said it continues to do research and welcomed residents to send their suggestions, which will be sent to the planning commission before the hearing on Aug. 25.

During the first part of the hearing on July 20, real estate attorneys read letters on behalf of seven households with property close to the proposed PNK Group data center.

Five of the households, the attorneys said, are no longer opposing the project, including Dilshan Gamaralalage and Matthew and Rebecca DeWire, who were previously among the loudest voices against the data center. An attorney for the DeWires and three other households, Donald and Cheryl Palm, Kimberly Palm, and Jack and Sharon Fisher, said his clients signed letters of “non-opposition,” rather than support.

They “may have had opposition” in the past, but no longer oppose the project after “asking questions, attending meetings, doing research.” 

Two additional households he represents, the DeWires and James and Taylor Kraus, signed letters stating active support for the development, he said. A second attorney confirmed non-opposition letters on behalf of Gamaralalage and Sean and Tina Snyder and submitted originals of both letters for the board's record. Neither attorney disclosed the terms of any agreements reached with the households.

The reversals have unsettled the opposition movement. At a July 30 meeting of residents opposed to the project, held at Washington Presbyterian Church in Allenwood, attendees described feeling betrayed by neighbors they had organized alongside for months. Resident Kristen Snader said she believed the households "were paid off for their silence and cooperation," adding that was her opinion.

A document from PNK Group, labeled a confidential settlement proposal not admissible as evidence under state and federal rules, describes an offer to "directly impacted" neighboring property owners: PNK would purchase a participating owner's home at fair market value, plus a premium equal to 75% of that value, paid in three installments tied to permitting milestones for the project's initial 60-megawatt phase and its full 240-megawatt build-out.

In exchange, an owner agrees to sign a letter of non-opposition and refrain from opposing the data center at meetings, hearings or online, according to the leaked document. No name name or any property owner who received or signed the offer is listed in the document, and it is not known whether its terms match what any individual household agreed to.

Opposition organizers plan to hold weekly strategy meetings at the church on Thursdays from 6 to 7 p.m. through the hearing date.