Developer Brian O'Neill's proposal to convert the former Cleveland-Cliffs steel mill at 900 Conshohocken Road in Plymouth Township into a 2 million-square-foot data center has escalated into open conflict, with council Chair Lynne Viscio accusing O'Neill of trying to "demand approval by tantrum" after he rejected all 43 conditions the council presented and filed a legal challenge to the township's zoning ordinance. O'Neill disputes that characterization and says he negotiated in good faith and accepted the majority of conditions. He has cited roughly $21 million in projected annual local tax revenue, a figure Plymouth's own planning agency has publicly disputed. A substantive zoning hearing board session is scheduled for August 6, where O'Neill's team is expected to present evidence and call witnesses; a petition opposing the project has drawn more than 3,600 signatures.
The Plymouth Township dispute shows how data center approvals are becoming protracted legal and political battles even after a developer resubmits a nearly identical plan following an earlier rejection. The parallel fight at O'Neill's separate 4.6 million-square-foot, five-property Upper Merion Township campus, where planning commissioners already declined to recommend three of five plans, points to a regional pattern of resistance that could affect how developers and municipalities across Pennsylvania approach large-scale data center negotiations.
A recurring community opposition campaign against a specific named data center project in Pennsylvania is a strong Opposition signal; the 'second fight' framing suggests escalating local resistance not previously covered in the Digest.