Quick catch up for the newcomers: The site is a roughly 24 acre parcel on Ridge Road at the old Congoleum plant, about 90% in Trainer and 10% in Lower Chichester. The developer is Link Logistics, which sounds like a trucking company…but was founded by Blackstone in 2019. They originally pitched a 443k sq foot warehouse and Lower Chichester was given money to run a sewer line to it…then they changed lawyers and changed what they wanted to build. In April their attorney asked Lower Chichester to confirm a data center is permitted by right, on the argument that the township’s code never defines one.
CRCQL packed the Ballrooms of Boothwyn last night to talk about the Link Logistics (Blackstone) data center proposed for Trainer and Lower Chichester.
Trainer said yes, while Lower Chi asked for more information
Link Logistics went to both municipalities asking for a preliminary zoning opinion.
Lower Chichester said no. Their answer, per David Kronheim, was “we don’t have data centers in our zoning laws, we need more information.”
On the other hand…Trainer’s zoning officer issued a favorable opinion. The lawyers advertised it in a local paper on Sept 12th…then again on Sept 18th.
Kronheim said he got about 10 pages emailed from the Trainer secretary…the request for the favorable opinion and the response. One page has a diagram and his copy is…just unreadable.
I was confused, so I filed for everything. If anybody has already gotten a copy of anything, send it to me.
All records relating to any request for a zoning opinion, determination, interpretation, or similar written decision concerning the use of the Ridge Road property, together with the Borough’s response and all supporting materials, attachments, plans, diagrams and internal communications.
All records relating to the advertisement or public notice of any zoning determination concerning the Ridge Road property, including copies of each published notice and records showing the dates of publication.
All correspondence between any Trainer Borough elected official, employee, manager, solicitor, engineer, zoning officer or code enforcement officer and any developer, property owner, prospective purchaser, attorney, consultant, engineer or broker concerning the Ridge Road property, from January 1, 2024 to the present.
All records of any meeting, conference, site visit or consultation, formal or informal, concerning development of the Ridge Road property from January 1, 2024 to the present.
All records reflecting any payment, contribution, escrow deposit, reimbursement or other transfer of funds to Trainer Borough, or to any authority in which the Borough participates, from any party in connection with the Ridge Road property or its development, together with any governing agreement.
All correspondence between any Trainer Borough official, employee or consultant and any utility, water authority, sewer authority or transmission operator concerning electrical, water or sewer capacity serving the Ridge Road property, from January 1, 2024 to the present.
All records concerning any tax abatement, exemption, Keystone Opportunity Zone designation or similar incentive applicable to the Ridge Road property.
All communications between Trainer Borough and any other municipality, or Delaware County, concerning the Ridge Road property.
All records, including any draft or model ordinance, relating to the Borough’s consideration of zoning regulations for data centers or similar uses.
All invoices and billing records from the Borough solicitor or any outside counsel referencing the Ridge Road property, the Congoleum property, or data centers, from January 1, 2024 to the present.
Agendas and minutes of all executive sessions held by Trainer Borough Council from January 1, 2024 to the present, together with the statement of reason for each session as required by 65 Pa.C.S. § 708(b).
Who was there?
CRCQL chair Zulene Mayfield kicked it off.
Anneke van Rossum, advocacy and advancement coordinator at Delaware Riverkeeper Network, who does most of their data center work.
Josephine Gingerich and Christina “PK” DiGiulio from Physicians for Social Responsibility PA.
C4, the Campus Coalition Concerning Chester, students from Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Philly.
And Choices, CRCQLs youth leadership group, who were tasked to run mics for public comment all night.
Tracy Tucker from Trainer Council was there.
One elected official from the borough that issued the favorable zoning opinion. Credit to her for showing up. Where the hell was everybody else?
The Keystone Opportunity Zone
This site sits in a “Keystone Opportunity Zone.”
Zulene read straight from the KOZ program guidelines, Section C…taxes eligible to be waived. No earned income tax, school tax or usage tax.
Zulene: “You will be paying more in taxes than the data center. That’s the whole enchilada.”
PA already exempts data centers from the sales tax on all their computing equipment, which is the thing that started this gold rush (or data center rush) statewide.
Now couple that with a Keystone Opportunity Zone and ask what the school district…already underfunded…actually collects.
Somebody in the room asked…if they’re exempt from everything, what’s the incentive for local leaders to approve it?
Zulene’s answer was that sometimes it’s flat ignorance…people with no technical background sitting across from highly experienced lawyers, trying to keep up.
There’s another one though…ribbon cuttings. A lot of temporary jobs that turn into 40 permanent positions after construction ends.
Yes, it’s Blackstone
Blackstone has collaborated with ICE, has access to enormous amounts of personal data, with subsidiaries that have faced child labor findings.
The last question on this, what organized crime group are we allowing into our community?
Good question.
The health and water stuff
Josephine Gingerich laid out the health effects caused by data centers. By 2028, data centers could contribute to roughly 600k additional asthma cases a year nationwide. And that’s just from running them…not from producing the gas.
On water cooling, ethylene glycol is used, a carcinogen, plus chemicals containing PFAS…
She also said that municipal systems can’t handle that discharge. She brought up a recent Wyoming case where a deadly bacteria turned up in water at a data center site that was being sent back to the municipality to treat…50% mortality rate, something they’d never seen before. And then the permits got pulled.
FIFTY PERCENT
Restacks do exponentially more than Likes in the algorithm…if you would be so generous.
Utility bills
Normally a new customer joining the grid spreads costs across the pool, so more people and rates tick down. That’s not what happens with these hyperscale data center “users.” You have to build new infrastructure to serve them, and that cost lands on literally everybody.
Zulene Mayfield
She said they were about to give people HELL. Zulene said this is ABSOLUTELY environmental racism.
They are getting enormous tax breaks and they are using our very own money to poison us.
She also mentioned that CRCQL has their hands full with five to nine campaigns running already and they can’t get the information out of Trainer and Chichester that a resident of those places could.
If you live in either municipality and want to get involved, please reach out to me.
Trainer council told residents there was no formal proposal, said they’d be transparent when one arrived, and refused to discuss the topic during public comment…but their zoning officer was issuing a favorable opinion.
No petitions
She also said she’s not a fan of petitions, which surprised me. Her reasoning is that once your neighbor signs one they feel like they’re done. Thirty four years of petitions and she’s over it.
There will be another Zoom call for this informational session.
What to do
The 30 day appeal window on that favorable zoning opinion closes around the middle of October.
Ask Trainer Borough Council, in writing…who requested the zoning opinion and when. Whether council saw it before the zoning officer issued it. And whether the borough has any data center ordinance in progress.
Ask Lower Chichester the same and thank them for saying no until they get more information.
And might as well ask both whether Link Logistics has given either municipality any money, for a sewer line or anything else.
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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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