What we know about Delaware County’s potential data center plan, ‘Project Trainer’

This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.

From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.

Delaware County residents are organizing in response to a potential data center proposal.

Trainer Borough, with a population of less than 2,000, is located about 10 miles south of Philadelphia International Airport along the Delaware River and is also home to the Monroe Energy oil refinery. Borough officials gave preliminary zoning approval last month for a data center to be built in an industrial and residential area along Ridge Road at the borough’s border with Lower Chichester Township.

But the property owner’s lawyer says no formal proposal has been made. Here’s what we know.

Is a data center coming to Trainer, Pa.?

It’s too soon to say. There is currently “no formal application” for a data center in Trainer Borough, according to a statement posted on the borough’s website.

Link Logistics is currently advertising the roughly 24-acre site as a build-to-suit warehouse called the Juniper Pointe Logistics Center.

But in August, Link Logistics’ lawyer requested a preliminary zoning determination from the borough for a “proposed data center” at the site. WHYY News obtained a copy of the correspondence through a public records request.

What do we know about the possible data center proposal?

Link Logistics’ request, signed by lawyer Leonard B. Altieri III, included a “preliminary test fit” drawing showing a two-story data center labeled “Project Trainer.”

The data center would use 120 megawatts of electricity and would likely include a 3-acre electrical substation to connect the data center to the electric utility’s infrastructure and backup gas or diesel-powered generators, according to Altieri’s letter. The development would also likely include a security building.

Cooling of the data center equipment would be done using a closed-loop system, Altieri said in an interview. It would not require a supply of process water, according to his letter.

Altieri said that none of these details are final because his client has not yet decided whether to pursue the data center project.

“No application has been submitted and no plans have been designed,” he said in an interview. “We’re purely at the due diligence phase of this.”

Asked whether PECO had received any request for service at the site, a spokesperson said the company cannot discuss potential customers or prospective customer projects for privacy and confidentiality reasons.

Where would the data center be located?

The site where Link Logistics is considering building a data center is located at 4001 Ridge Road, mostly in Trainer. A small portion on the southwest edge of the site is located in Lower Chichester Township.

The site sits between Congoleum, a vinyl floor manufacturing facility, a small self-storage facility and a construction equipment supplier.

Rows of homes sit roughly 100 feet away from the site across Ridge Road to the northwest and about 200 feet away across a set of train tracks to the southeast of the site.

What happens next?

Trainer Borough’s zoning officer, Charles Remaley, confirmed to Altieri in August that the property’s industrial zoning allows for development of a data center “by-right.”

“The proposed development is therefore permitted with respect to use,” Remaley wrote. “Any Required site plan, subdivision, building, engineering, environmental, or other Governmental approvals shall be obtained separately as applicable.”

If Link Logistics chooses to pursue the data center project, it will need to submit a site plan for approval by the Trainer Borough Planning Commission and Borough Council.

The project would also likely need environmental permits from the state of Pennsylvania, including stormwater and erosion control permits and air pollution permits for backup generators. Gov. Josh Shapiro recently signed an executive order reserving a more efficient process of environmental permit review for data center proposals that commit to meeting the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development, or GRID, standards and have already received local approval.

Link Logistics also sought preliminary zoning approval from Lower Chichester Township, for the portion of the site that lies within that municipality. In a letter dated July 22, Frank E. Hendron, Lower Chichester Township zoning officer, said a data center is not a permitted use under the site’s current zoning.

The preliminary test fit drawing included in Altieri’s August letter to Trainer Borough shows the data center building located only within the portion of the site located in Trainer.

A Link Logistics spokesperson said in a written statement provided by Altieri on Monday that the company is “pleased to have received a favorable Preliminary Opinion from Trainer Borough.”

“This is not a building permit; any project, should we decide to pursue, will require an application and Borough approvals,” the spokesperson wrote.

The environmental advocacy group Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living is hosting a community meeting about the possible proposal Sept. 23 in Boothwyn.