The East Whiteland Township Planning Commission stopped short of fully recommending that the township’s board of supervisors approve an amended plan that would increase the footprint of a proposed data center to more than 1.6 million square feet. The commission said the plan is in compliance with local ordinances, its waivers were supported by professional consultants, and it adhered to zoning allowances made years previously. The commission also recommended the board revisit the special exemption that allowed for the site to be zoned for a data center in the first place. “We have the right to build a data center, and we will build some sort of data center,” said Lou Colagreco, the attorney for the developer. “The question here before the township, before the planning commission, is which one will it be?” The developers, Sentinel Data Centers and Green Fig Land LLC, said the new plans would update the project with modern technology, calling the approved 2024 plan outdated. The plan would increase the size of the data center by roughly 60% and remove two microwave towers, antenna yards and ground-mounted cooling towers. The planned location of the facility is a remediated Superfund site adjacent to Malvern Hunt, a neighborhood with about 280 homes, and it would be intersected by the Chester Valley Trail, an 18.6-mile route popular with walkers, cyclists and runners.
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer; 3/10/2026