The data center fight in Smithfield Township, Pennsylvania
As of September 27, 2026, Smithfield Township, Pennsylvania has a data center moratorium in force (action taken May 6, 2026; documented end date 2026-11-02).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
Curative amendment process pausing data center applications for 180 days; adopted new H-1 Heavy Industrial zoning on Aug 12, completing moratorium early.
SourceNews
read 2026-09-11
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
The project on the table
Smithfield Gateway Data Center — Awaiting decision
Operator: DEPG Mosier Associates LP / DEPG of Shawnee II LP · Filing LLC: DEPG Mosier Associates LP
Two 250,000 sq ft data center buildings proposed at Smithfield Gateway behind St. Luke's and Wawa on Route 209. Developer filed a curative amendment application; township initiated a 180-day review period starting May 6, 2026. Township is proposing a new H-1 (Heavy Industrial) Zoning District where data centers would be the only permitted conditional use, removing them from ED and M-1 districts. Board of Supervisors held public hearing and vote on Aug 12, 2026.
Next: Heard 2026-08-12; decision pending. Call the board clerk for the vote date and get on the notification list.
Latest in the record
- 2026-09-09 — Township newsletter announces the Board of Supervisors will open the conditional use hearing on the proposed data center on Wednesday, September 9 at 6:00 p.m. at J.T. Lambert Intermediate School, where party status requests are due. · source
- 2026-08-13 — Township newsletter states the Planning Commission will review the conditional use application for the proposed data center and vote on a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors on Thursday, August 13 at 7:00 p.m. · source
- 2026-08-12 — Board of Supervisors public hearing and curative amendment vote at JT Lambert Intermediate School. · source
- 2026-08-12 — Fox56 covered the public hearing at J.T. Lambert Intermediate School where residents voiced opposition to the proposed data center zoning, quoting resident Joel Raffaeli saying the community could come up with something better. · source
- 2026-08-11 — The applicant resubmitted the conditional use application with revised documents, including conditional use plans, a Kaplin-Stewart resubmission letter, traffic memorandum, acoustical evaluation, emergency response plan, detailed load study report, and water and sewer letters. · source
- 2026-06-03 — The township scheduled a Board of Supervisors meeting for June 3, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. at J.T. Lambert Intermediate School to discuss data center ordinance updates. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-08-14.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in Pennsylvania.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- Pennsylvania briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in Pennsylvania
- Olyphant (38 mi) — Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded
- Butler Township (45 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-08
- Hazle Township (46 mi) — Enactedexpires 2026-12-05
- East Whiteland Township (74 mi) — Enactedfixed term, end date not recorded
- West Whiteland Township (77 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-11-01
- Montour County (80 mi) — Expiredterm ran to 2026-04-30
- Muncy Township (87 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-01
- Gregg Township (101 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-02-16
All 19 tracked actions in Pennsylvania are on the state page.
As of August 2026 · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.