Blackstone's Lawyers Noticed Lower Chichester And Trainer Have No Data Center Ordinance

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I’m building a network of residents willing to keep an eye on their own township, borough, and/or school board.. if interested, please email me at nick@delcorising.com.

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I INITIALLY MISSED THIS…THIS IS WHY WE NEED ALL MUNICIPALITIES COVERED.

Thanks to Pete Bannan at the Delaware County Daily Times for bringing this story to light.

Blackstone wants to put a data center in Trainer…

Link Logistics is the company inquiring, which sounds like a trucking company. Link Logistics was founded by Blackstone and they own roughly 3000 warehouses, do business across tons of markets, and leases/contracts with more than 7000 businesses.

The property being inquired about is a 24.4 acre stretch along Ridge Road near the Congoleum plant. About 90% of the land sits in Trainer, and 10% in Lower Chichester...so it spans (2) different municipalities.

On April 8th, Matlawski of McNichol, Byrne & Matlawski wrote to Lower Chichester on behalf of Link Logistics. The letter says they’re exploring “an alternative building design,” and that “the alternative use would be as a data center.”

Then..it asks the township for a zoning opinion?

It says that Lower Chichester’s zoning ordinance doesn’t define a data center at all. So the company’s lawyers say it’s simply an industrial use, permitted by right and that they’d comply with all the district restrictions..

On July 22, Lower Chichester’s zoning officer said he couldn’t comment because he didn’t have enough information.

THREE and a half months passed since the lawyers letter and the zoning officer STILL doesnt have enough information??

At Mondays Lower Chichester commissioners meeting, board President Rocco Gaspari Jr explained.

Officials had met with Link Logistics about a warehouse. A 443,000 sq ft facility. That proposal needed Lower Chis sign-off, then the company changed lawyers and changed what it wanted to build..

Gaspari said township officials haven’t met with the company since, because they hadn’t found an opportunity to do so.

Pitch a warehouse..get the township to sign off…and then hand them the money for infrastructure. And then coming back asking for a zoning opinion on something else entirely…is absurd.

I’m not saying that was the original plan, I don’t know that. But a township that took money for a sewer line is in a much worse position than one that didn’t, and it’s Blackstone here.

We don’t know how much money, what the agreement was, conditions, etc.

Credit to Lower Chi president for going after Governor Shapiro for the “PA is open for business” posture and the 100 data centers already proposed statewide. He did note the PA House passed a bill calling for a (6) month moratorium so local governments can write their own ordinances…though he’s worried about the township getting sued.

And he (rightfully) blasted the jobs pitch, pointing out that construction jobs are temporary.

He told residents to come and ask questions, and said decisions won’t happen behind closed doors. He also said…Lower Chi and Trainer haven’t met yet to discuss but that a conversation needs to happen.

Lower Chi were reached out to by the company in April..how have they not met?

He’s right about the jobs though. A data center is a building full of servers…once it’s up, staffing is basically a security team, maintenance crew, and some techs. Dozens of jobs…not even triple digits.

On Tuesday the governor FINALLY issued an exec order tightening data center regulation, after taking heat for months and months.

Developers now have to sign a binding legal agreement adhering to guidelines Shapiro laid out in February, such as pay for their own power, hire locally, be transparent with local governments and adhere to high water conservation standards, and the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development framework.

Shapiro also said that he is removing all data center projects from our state’s fast track program and that going forward, they would be ineligible. He also said nondisclosure agreements for data center projects will NOT be allowed in the state.

If they dont adhere, they go last in line for state review and lose a state exemption on sales tax for computing equipment.

Insane that we even have this state level exemption…it was part of an argument by the governor for “economic development,” but these things are supposed to buy jobs…in theory. These don’t birth that many permanent jobs..and this technology needs upgrades every few years. So it isn’t even just a one time incentive to get mostly temporary jobs. Completely indefensible.

At the same time, we can’t fund school districts after the state was told by a court that our public school systems are unconstitutionally underfunded.

And that’s why Shapiros order is weaker than they are making it out to be…this red tape should’ve been law from the beginning.

He doesn’t get to be pro data center, then see which ways the political winds are shifting, slap red tape on the situation and get all the credit.

He’s clearly eyeing the 2028 presidential democratic nomination.

Here is my Right to Know request with Lower Chichester Township:

And another one was sent with similar language for Trainer Borough.

Go to the next council meeting and ask questions!