Archbald Borough Council in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, voted 7-0 on Wednesday night, Oct. 21, to deny the conditional use application for the Wildcat Ridge Data Center Campus. The proposal was a 14-building hyperscale project from Brooklyn-based Cornell Realty Management, planned for land above Business Route 6. The vote came at the end of a review that ran for most of 2026. According to the Times-Tribune, the record covered nine public hearings and about 26 hours of testimony, and the council's written decision runs 24 pages.

FOX 56 reported that the crowd erupted when the vote was announced. Marcellus Drilling News put attendance at about 175 to 200 residents. Edmund Campbell, the developer's attorney, told the council before the vote that the application met the ordinance's standards, according to FOX 56. MDN reported that Cornell Realty Management is not commenting. Radio Catskill/WVIA News reported that the council also declined to comment, citing potential litigation.

What Was Proposed

The sources give slightly different site sizes. MDN describes about 575 acres. Radio Catskill/WVIA News reports 578 acres. The Times-Tribune's review of the written decision gives 574.2 acres.

The Times-Tribune, drawing on the decision, describes 14 two-story buildings, each 80 feet tall with a footprint of 202,340 square feet. The Times-Tribune puts the total at nearly 5.7 million square feet of data centers.

The utility and backup-power figures are the largest numbers in the record:

  • Power: MDN states the campus would have needed 1.6 gigawatts.
  • Water: MDN states the campus would have used more than 3.3 million gallons of water per day in summer.
  • Backup generation: MDN and Radio Catskill/WVIA News both report 588 diesel backup generators. The Times-Tribune reports that the decision describes the generators as 3-megawatt units, while the applicant's modeling assumed 1-megawatt units.
  • Fuel storage: According to the Times-Tribune, the decision puts on-site diesel storage at 1.148 million to 2.296 million gallons.

Radio Catskill/WVIA News describes the site as untouched land.

Why the Council Said No

Under Pennsylvania zoning, a conditional use is permitted in a district only if the applicant meets the criteria the ordinance sets. Radio Catskill/WVIA News reported that Cornell Realty had the burden of proving its project complied with the ordinance. The Times-Tribune's summary of the 24-page decision says the council found the applicant did not prove that the use would not harm neighbors, traffic or public health.

Credibility was part of the decision. The Times-Tribune reports that the council found some of the applicant's testimony not credible. One example is the generator modeling: the applicant analyzed 1-megawatt units, but the decision describes the generators as 3-megawatt units. The Times-Tribune reports that the decision found the applicant's sound study significantly underrepresented generator output. However, the sources do not say which specific finding carried the most weight in the council's conclusion.

According to the Times-Tribune, the decision rests on whether the applicant met its burden of proof under the borough ordinance, and the council is the exclusive finder of fact in the proceeding.

The Hearing Record

The borough's conditional use applications page lays out the timeline:

  • Application received: Dec. 15, 2025
  • First hearing: Jan. 28, 2026
  • Continued hearings: March 11, April 13, May 14, June 15, July 6, July 13 and Aug. 4
  • Ninth hearing: Sept. 9, 2026, at the Valley View High School auditorium

The borough page lists the ninth hearing as Sept. 9, the same date Radio Catskill/WVIA News gives for the final testimony. The page links recordings for several of the sessions.

Other Applications Before the Borough

Wildcat Ridge is not the only data center proposal in Archbald. The same borough page lists two other conditional use applications. One is from Archbald 1, LLC, received Dec. 16, 2025. The other is Project Green Mountain at the Stavola Quarry site, received Jan. 26, 2026, with a first hearing held March 19, 2026. The Wildcat Ridge decision applies only to the Cornell Realty application. The sources do not report how these other applications are affected or when they will be decided.

What Happens Next

According to the Times-Tribune, Cornell Realty Management has 30 days to appeal the denial to the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. MDN reports that nearly everyone in the room expects an appeal to county court, and the Times-Tribune says the developer's attorney declined to comment on whether his client would appeal. As of this writing, no appeal has been confirmed in the sources. Radio Catskill/WVIA News reports that the council has declined to comment because of potential litigation.

Sources