Project dossier · North Beaver & Mahoning townships (Lawrence County), Pennsylvania

Stonebridge Associates data center campus at Powder Mill Works Awaiting decision

Maryland-based Stonebridge Associates has applied to build a data center campus at the Powder Mill Works commercial development site spanning North Beaver and Mahoning townships in Lawrence County, PA. The application was rejected administratively because a required $3,000 Lawrence County escrow check was missing, and back-to-back zoning hearings in early August 2026 argued over whether the application was validly filed - which determines whether older April or newer June zoning rules apply. The zoning board deferred its ruling, expected within 45 days.

Key facts

Operator: Stonebridge Associates
Location: North Beaver & Mahoning townships (Lawrence County), Pennsylvania
Hearing: 2026-08-05
Stage today: Awaiting decision

Source
read 2026-08-14

What to do next

Next step: Heard 2026-08-05; decision pending. Call the board clerk for the vote date and get on the notification list.

Build an action pack for this project →

What has happened so far (12 events)

2026-04-14rezoning
Mahoning Township Board of Supervisors passed a data center zoning ordinance restricting data centers to industrial districts, despite significant resident opposition at a packed public hearing; supervisors also authorized a noise and vibration study. · source
2026-06-02filing
S.S. Penn LLC (Stonebridge affiliate) delivered a box of preliminary land development plans to Mahoning Township for a 15- to 16-building data center campus on 568-569 acres at the Powder Mill Works site, along with checks to Mahoning Township and Lawrence County but missing the required $3,000 county escrow fee. · source
2026-06-24rezoning
Mahoning Township Board of Supervisors passed three additional ordinances regulating data centers, power generation, and battery storage in industrial districts, tightening setback, noise, and vibration restrictions beyond the April ordinance. · source
2026-06-27filing
New Castle News reported the preliminary land development plan by S.S. Penn LLC for 16 buildings on 569 acres at the Powder Mill Works site; planning commission reviews were scheduled for early July in both townships and Lawrence County. · source
2026-07-08hearing
Stonebridge principal Douglas Firstenberg presented data center plans to approximately 40 residents at a North Beaver Township planning commission meeting, projecting 400-500 permanent jobs, over $1 billion investment, and $10 million annual tax revenue for Mahoning Township. · source
2026-07-16lawsuit
Attorney Louis Perrotta, representing both townships, announced he would file motions to quash lawsuits brought by S.S. Penn LLC challenging the timing of revised zoning ordinance amendments; a hearing was set before Judge Bradley Olson in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court. · source
2026-07-16coverage
Data Center Dynamics reported Stonebridge plans to invest over $15 billion on the 16-building campus at the former dynamite factory site, with Penn Power providing electricity and a six-year build-out; a petition against the project had gathered 170 signatures. · source
2026-07-20lawsuit
WFMJ reported Stonebridge is suing both North Beaver and Mahoning townships, arguing zoning restrictions adopted after it submitted its plans should not apply under the pending-ordinance doctrine; township solicitor Perrotta contended the application was incomplete and underfunded. · source
2026-07-21protest
Approximately 150 residents packed a Stonebridge public meeting in New Castle, chanting opposition; Firstenberg outlined 16 buildings over six years, 3,000 construction and 400 permanent jobs, a 2029 construction start, and potential tenants Meta, Oracle, and Amazon AWS (none confirmed). · source
2026-07-21coverage
WFMJ reported residents voiced strong frustration at the Stonebridge public presentation in New Castle, with attendees demanding design plans and criticizing the company's claims about health and environmental impacts. · source
2026-08-04hearing
North Beaver Township held a zoning hearing on the Stonebridge application, focusing on whether fees were paid correctly and whether the application was timely; Stonebridge lawyer Shawn Gallagher said if the June regulations apply rather than April's, the company 'might not have a project.' · source
2026-08-05hearing
Second zoning hearing (Mahoning Township) on whether Stonebridge's application was filed correctly and on time; the filing had been rejected over a missing $3,000 county escrow fee, and the board deferred its decision, indicating a ruling within 45 days. · source

Find the paper trail

Find the paper trail (0 filed · 11 places to look)

State environmental permits

Backup generators, water withdrawal and stormwater are permitted by the state, usually earlier and in more detail than anything filed locally.

Pennsylvania DEPThe program page: which permits this state requires, and the office that issues them.
DEP Data Center Permit Tracker (the only state register built for data centers — it already feeds this tracker)Searchable public filings — search the operator, the shell LLC on the deed, and the address.

County & town filings

The rezoning application, site plan, traffic and noise studies, staff report and every revision.

Search North Beaver & Mahoning townships (Lawrence County) planning filingssearchPlanning departments post application files under many different names. Find the department, then ask the clerk for the application number — that number unlocks everything else.
Search North Beaver & Mahoning townships (Lawrence County) property records / GISsearchThe parcel record names the buying LLC and the sale date, which is what ties an anonymous filing to an operator.

Utility & grid records

The electricity request is filed with the grid operator and the utility long before the town hears about it — and states the real load.

PJM Interconnection (Mid-Atlantic, Ohio Valley) — interconnection queueRequested megawatts, queue position and target in-service date. The MW here is the real number; the one at the town meeting is often phase one.
Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission — docket searchSpecial contracts, large-load tariffs and rate cases are docketed here. Testimony and exhibits are public, and are usually more candid than the press release.
FERC eLibraryFederal filings: transmission agreements, interconnection service agreements, and co-location disputes.
Search the serving utility for a will-serve lettersearchThe will-serve or load-service letter is the utility's own written commitment. Ask the utility and the PUC for it by name — it is frequently the first document to exist.

Federal databases

Works anywhere, and covers the operator's record at its other sites.

EPA ECHO facility searchEvery federally-reported air, water and waste permit at a facility, plus its inspection and violation history. Search by address or draw a radius around the site. This project's locality centres on 40.990, -80.430 — search that point with a 5-mile radius.
EPA EnvirofactsThe same underlying records, queryable by county — useful for 'what else is permitted near this site' rather than one facility.
EPA Facility Registry ServiceResolves the shell LLC on a permit to the facility it belongs to. Worth a look when the filing name means nothing locally.

These are places to look, not evidence that anything has been filed. Links were checked on 2026-08-21; search links are queries, not records. What to ask for.

Around here

Pennsylvania briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts.

Other tracked projects in Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh International Race Complex Data Center — Big Beaver Borough (Beaver County), 11 mi In review
Sharon Data Center Project — City of Sharon (Mercer County), 18 mi In review
Unnamed Data Center — Midland Borough (Beaver County), 27 mi Rumored
Prime Data Centers — Starpointe Business Park campus — Hanover Township (Washington County), 44 mi Awaiting decision
Springdale Data Center — Springdale Borough (Allegheny County), 46 mi In review

Cite this page: GridWatch AI, “Stonebridge Associates data center campus at Powder Mill Works”, aigridwatch.com/projects/powder-mill-works-lawrence-pa, retrieved 2026-10-11.

As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing

A working set of identified proposals a community can track, not a census — most of the country's activity is not in here yet. Pennsylvania is the exception: its rows are synced from PA DEP's own data-center permit tracker, so the state's coverage is close to complete and carries the permit trail with it. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to reporting or the governing body's own record and were read on that date; rows marked *unverified* have no source on record — a lead to check, not a fact to cite. **Stage is derived, not asserted.** *Hearing scheduled*, *Awaiting decision*, *Approved* and *Withdrawn* are computed from each row's milestone dates on every rebuild, so a hearing date that has passed stops reading 'scheduled'. Hearings get moved and projects re-file under new names — treat a scheduled date as the earliest to act by, and confirm with the clerk before relying on it. Leads are mined into data/project_candidates.json and promoted here only after a human reads a primary source.

Part of the data center project tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0 (JSON · CSV).