Next Forward Township data center meeting moved to Steamfitters in Harmony
FORWARD TWP — After a previous planning commission meeting regarding the proposed Misty Hollow Data & Energy Campus, the township is not taking any chances with available space for the public at the next one.
That meeting, planned for 6 p.m. Nov. 24, will give township residents another chance to express their concerns about the controversial proposal; but will take place outside of Forward Township altogether at the Steamfitters building on Wise Road in Jackson Township, officials said.
The proposal, led by property developer Allen Sherwood, would bring the construction of a 1,000,000-square-foot data center and supporting infrastructure to a now-abandoned farm on Prospect Road.
The previous planning commission meeting occurred Oct. 1, and led to the data center plans being tabled. That meeting was supposed to be held the previous Thursday, but was postponed less than an hour before it was to begin due to an unexpectedly high number of attendees which exceeded the township building’s maximum capacity.
To allow for additional space, the township moved the meeting to a nearby maintenance garage. Despite this, many of those who attended the meeting still had to listen to the proceedings from outside through loudspeakers.
The regularly scheduled October meeting scheduled for Oct. 22 was canceled, as the data center developers submitted modified documents to the planning commission, which had no other business to discuss that month.
As of Thursday, contractors working in Forward Township are forbidden from using “open-cut” excavation to dig up township roads to install utility lines, such as water, sewer, electric, gas and telecommunication lines.
The board of supervisors introduced an amendment to its road and street ordinance banning open cut excavation during its meeting on Thursday night.
According to the terms of the ordinance amendment, all utility line installations “...must be installed by boring or directional drilling under the township road or street.”
