Butler Township supervisors approved an ordinance Monday night that would allow Nebius to expand the footprint of its planned AI data center campus at Highridge Business Park in Schuylkill County.
By a 2-1 vote, supervisors OK’d expanding a data center overlay district at the business park. That expansion now includes additional parcels adjacent to the properties a subsidiary of the Dutch company purchased for $187.5 million in April.
Nebius is planning to build a massive 1.2-gigawatt AI data center on more than 600 acres. The additional properties – which a company representative said Monday it has an agreement of sale to buy from Schuylkill Economic Development Corp. (SEDCO) that hinged on the expansion of the data center overlay district – would allow Nebius to develop its full plan for the campus at Highridge.
Monday’s vote to expand that overlay district does not mean that Nebius can start construction tomorrow, solicitor Chris Riedlinger told a packed Butler Township municipal building on Monday. That would have been the case had the supervisors voted to deny the expansion. Plans for the data center campus still must be approved by Butler Township’s Planning Commission and supervisors.
That plan must prove that Nebius’ plans will not create a data center campus that creates noise greater than 65 A-weighted decibels (dBA). That is down from the previous maximum of 75 dBA, which was amended down after Butler supersvisors unanimously approved a separate ordinance on Monday.
The supervisors’ votes followed a 90-minute public hearing ahead of a special board meeting. During that hearing and briefly before the vote at the special meeting, about two dozen people urged supervisors to vote against approving the expansion of the overlay district or at least hold off until Nebius comes forward with more concrete plans for its proposed data center at Highridge.
In making the only vote against expanding the overlay district, supervisor Patrick Coyle said he’s not against data centers, in general, but “I feel what they (Nebius) have is enough.”
Supervisors chairman David Kessler said following Monday’s vote, “This board has never done anything without the best interest of this township.”
Kessler said he’s placed a certain amount of trust in Nebius that they’ll stick to the words it has made publicly about its plan to contribute to the community.
“We do take people sometimes at their word. We have to. It’s not only Nebius. It’s a lot of folks that come in and say things or do things. We trust them. Maybe sometimes that’s bad to a fault but I don’t think so,” he said. “It’s been proven many times over that it’s been successful. I hope we’re right here but time will tell.”
At the public hearing prior to the votes on Monday, residents from Butler Township and surrounding communities mostly urged supervisors to vote against the expansion, at least until Nebius somehow proves it’ll be a good neighbor in Schuylkill County.
“They need to earn their keep here,” Frackville’s John Gower told supervsisors.
Some, like Jake Weinrich, of Butler Township, were more direct in their opposition. He said, “If this ordinance passes tonight, there’s going to be a lawsuit.”
Those voicing their opposition continued to express specific concerns that have been raised previously in regard to the Nebius data center and to the proposed Amazon data center in Kline Township and a speculated campus in New Castle Township. Water use, electricity demand the higher bills they believe that will cause, and noise are chief among the concerns.
SEDCO president Frank Zukas attempted to allay concerns about water use, saying that the property is permitted to draw 37,000 gallons of water per day and that there’s more than enough from the Mount Laurel water system to meet that need. He also addressed concerns raised by nearby Gordon residents who worry about flooding caused by runoff at the proposed data center campus.
Zukas said the site is “designed to hold water on the mountain” and that the development plan that was in place for two proposed million-square foot warehouses prior to Nebius proposing a data center there received approval from the Dept. of Environmental Protection and remains under its oversight and Schuylkill Conservation District.
John Sutter, the public affairs director for Nebius, presented results from an internal sound study at its proposed data center site in Schuylkill County – factoring in weather and how much it’ll force the site to rely on cooling equipment that’s likely to cause the most noise – that showed at its maximum, it wouldn’t exceed the decibel levels imposed by the amended ordinance approved on Monday.
State Rep. Tim Twardzik, who attended Monday’s hearing and supervisors meeting, spoke in favor of the Nebius plan.
“Data centers are the boogeyman right now,” he said, but believes that Highridge “is the right spot” for such a facility and urged those in attendance to consider the economic benefit. He cited Nebius’ promised $11-15 billion investment in Schuylkill County.
He added, “This will be a big boom for Schuylkill County.”
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Scoob
August 31, 2026 at 11:17 pm
A few pockets are getting lined….and they’re not the citizens pockets….this is corruption at the local government level.