Dec 16, 2025 By Jon Andreassi 3 min read

South Strabane Township supervisors will not be voting on an ordinance related to data centers when they meet tonight.

There has been confusion about what would appear on the agenda due in part to an error in a legal advertisement. Elected officials will be holding public hearings on ordinances concerning solar energy systems and battery energy storage systems, as well as voting on potential adoption of an ordinance on grading, excavation and filling.

Earlier this year real estate firm JLL began marketing a 1,500-acre tract of land owned by CNX Resources to be used as an AI data center. JLL is headquartered in Chicago, but has a large presence in Pittsburgh.

JLL touts the land as having 400 buildable acres off of Zediker Station Road that stretch between Interstate 70 and Route 519. There is also land near the interchange between I-70 and I-79.

However, the land has yet to be leased. Jeff Bull, a South Strabane supervisor, said the township has received no applications related to development of the land.

Bull said an ordinance regulating data centers will likely not come up at a meeting until 2026.

South Strabane Township does have a draft of the ordinance available on its website, in addition to the ordinances that will be voted on at tonight’s meeting.

Posts to the municipality’s Facebook page clarify the data center ordinance is not on tonight’s agenda, and a public hearing will occur at a later date.

“Public notice will be issued when a data center ordinance is scheduled for a formal public hearing, ensuring all property owners and residents have the opportunity to attend and provide input,” reads one of the social media posts.

The Center for Coalfield Justice hosted a meeting earlier this month to discuss the potential development.

“Our team dug into the companies that were mentioned. We were able to find a brochure that we were able to share with attendees,” said Sarah Martik, the executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice.

She provided a copy of the brochure, which was created by JLL. The brochure contains two different mockups of potential uses of the land, each of which features more than 40 buildings.

Martik said the Center for Coalfield Justice held a meeting to draw awareness to the large amounts of energy and water used by data centers. JLL’s brochure advertises the property as having access to 525,000 gallons of water per day.

She also questioned the touted economic benefits. Washington County Commissioner Nick Sherman previously said the building of a data center could bring 300 to 400 union jobs. Martik noted these are temporary construction jobs, and permanent jobs would not be as plentiful.

“A lot of those positions are maintenance or janitorial, or security,” Martik said.

Robin Richards lives near the land where the data center is being proposed. She came away from the meeting concerned about the energy usage, noise, and potential impact on property values.

“They are going to ruin our beautiful, pristine landscape,” Richards said. “Our property values are just going to sink.”

South Strabane supervisors will meet at 6 p.m. tonight at the municipal building located at 550 Washington Road.