A standing-room-only crowd in Upper Macungie Township, Pennsylvania, watched a high-profile data center proposal come to an abrupt stop Wednesday night.

After months of debate, the township's zoning hearing board unanimously denied Air Products and Chemicals' request tied to a planned 2.6 million-square-foot data center campus, according to WFMZ.

What happened?

Air Products and Chemicals had asked the zoning hearing board to deem a proposed data center as a "similar use" to those already permitted in the township's Light Industrial district. The proposal called for three data center buildings on a 194-acre site.

The hearing took a dramatic turn right off the bat. When the meeting opened, neither the company's attorney nor any Air Products representative was present, despite a packed room of residents opposed to the project. After the board addressed another case, the company's attorney, Blake Marles, still had not arrived by 7:30 p.m., and the board began proceeding without the applicant.

When Marles did arrive, he asked for another continuance, this time until Oct. 14. The board denied that request, then denied the underlying petition for zoning relief. The township solicitor said the board gave the applicant an opportunity to proceed on the merits before voting to reject both the delay and the requested designation.

Why does it matter?

The vote was after months of residents voicing concerns about what a project of this scale could mean for their community. People filled the township building as opposition to the proposal intensified.

State Sen. Jarrett Coleman joined constituents at the meeting and pointed to concerns about the energy and infrastructure demands a massive data center could place on the Lehigh Valley. Although the township said it had no official position on the proposal, residents made clear they wanted their objections entered into the record.

The dispute comes as communities across the country debate AI, data centers, and the power grid. Data centers can support tools that improve medical care, streamline services, and help manage cleaner, smarter energy systems. At the same time, they can require enormous amounts of electricity and water, raise questions about grid strain and security, and fuel fears that communities could face higher utility costs or other unintended consequences as AI infrastructure expands.

What's being done?

The zoning board's decision halted the project at the local level. The board expects to release its written decision within 45 days. After that, Air Products would have 30 days to appeal the denial in court.

The board's action shows how communities can weigh in on major development proposals through public hearings, zoning standards, and legal review. In this case, the applicant needed to show that the proposed use would be similar in character to uses already permitted in the district, less intensive in its external impacts and nuisances, and not specifically prohibited.

The packed hearing raised concerns about land use, infrastructure, and whether the project fit the township at the center of the meeting. If the case moves to court, those questions are likely to remain central to the fight.

"I don't think this is a good fit," Coleman said at the meeting. "I don't think Pennsylvania is the right fit, and I certainly don't think the Lehigh Valley is the right fit."

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