Skip to content

Legal Update

Judge sets November 13 hearing on the Middlesex families' spot zoning challenge

Read the press release

Legal challenges

Updated October 5, 2026

See how we're fighting.

Three legal challenges: the spot zoning challenge, the land use appeals of the Supervisors' plan approvals, and the stormwater permit appeal. Here is what each one asks for and where it stands.

New here? PAX-1 is a $15 billion, 16-building data center campus going up near Carlisle. Start with the basics or read the FAQ

Coming up

  1. The land use appeals

    November 2, 2026

    Our brief on the Phase 1B approval is due.

    View the court's schedule

  2. The spot zoning challenge

    November 13, 2026

    The county court hears evidence on the merits of the spot zoning case, on our request to halt construction.

    View the order setting the hearing

  3. The land use appeals

    January 12, 2027

    The county court hears oral argument on the Phase 1B approval.

    View the court's schedule

  4. The stormwater permit appeal

    February 10, 2027

    Evidence gathering, called discovery, closes.

    View the Board's schedule

In county courtCumberland County Court of Common Pleas

The spot zoning challenge#

The Supervisors adopted a zoning overlay drafted by the developer's attorney and stuck it on 694 acres, the land the developer wanted and nowhere else. After the Zoning Hearing Board failed to hold a hearing, we took the challenge to county court.

Asks the court to strike the overlay as spot zoning, as a violation of the Environmental Rights Amendment, and as an abuse of discretion.

What's next: On November 13 the court holds an evidentiary hearing on the merits of the case, on our request to halt construction.

If we win: If the court agrees, the zoning that makes PAX-1 possible falls, and the project loses the ground it stands on.

The filings

View the challengeView the county court appealView our request to enforce the holdView the October 5 order

Every step so far (5)

  1. May 13, 2026

    Filed with the Zoning Hearing Board.

  2. July 2026

    The Zoning Hearing Board let its 60-day deadline pass without holding a hearing.

  3. August 6, 2026

    Filed in the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas.

  4. September 30, 2026

    We ask the court to rule that filing the challenge put development under the overlay on hold, that the hold still stands, and that the Supervisors' July 1 and September 2 approvals broke it. If not, we ask for a new hold.

  5. October 5, 2026

    The court finds that the mandatory hold in state law covers only hearings pending before the Zoning Hearing Board, so it doesn't apply here. On our request for a new hold, it schedules an evidentiary hearing on the merits of the case for November 13.

Why it's spot zoning
In county courtCumberland County Court of Common Pleas

The land use appeals#

On May 6, 2026 the Supervisors approved the final subdivision and the Phase 1A and 1B plans on an environmental study written by the developer's own engineer, and without the river basin commission's sign-off the Township's rules require. That engineer, Justin Ross of LIVIC Civil, is also chief operating officer of Pennsylvania Data Center Partners, one of the two companies behind PAX-1. They approved the Phase 1C and Phase 2 preliminary plans on July 1, each with its own waivers of township standards, and the Phase 1B final plan and Phase 3 preliminary plan on September 2. We appealed each time, three appeals in all, and the first now goes forward on the Phase 1B approval.

Asks the court to reverse the Supervisors' plan approvals and send the plans back to them to be denied.

What's next: Our brief on the Phase 1B approval is due November 2, 2026, and the court will hear oral argument on January 12, 2027. The Phase 1C and Phase 2 appeal and the September 2 appeal are with the county court.

If we win: If the court vacates an approval, that phase goes back to the Supervisors, and the developer has to start over with a real environmental study and the approvals it skipped.

The filings

View the May 6 appealView the motion to throw out the appealView our request to put the approvals on holdView the court's orderView the Phase 1C and 2 appealView the September 2 appeal

Every step so far (10)

  1. May 6, 2026

    The Supervisors approve three plans in one meeting, with 29 waivers, modifications, and deferrals, including a deferral of the required plans showing the buildings' size and height.

  2. June 5, 2026

    Appealed to the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas.

  3. June 24, 2026

    The developer moves to quash the appeal, asking the court to throw it out before hearing it.

  4. July 1, 2026

    The Supervisors conditionally approve the Phase 1C and Phase 2 preliminary plans.

  5. July 31, 2026

    Appealed the Phase 1C and Phase 2 approvals to the county court.

  6. August 19, 2026

    We ask the court to put the May 6 approvals on hold while the appeal is decided.

  7. September 2, 2026

    The Supervisors conditionally approve the Phase 1B final plan and the Phase 3 preliminary plan.

  8. September 18, 2026

    The court hears argument.

  9. September 22, 2026

    The court dismisses the first appeal as to the final subdivision and Phase 1A plans, keeps it going for the Phase 1B plan, and denies the hold without prejudice, so we can ask again.

  10. October 2, 2026

    Appealed the Phase 1B final and Phase 3 preliminary approvals to the county court.

What the Township has approved so far
Before a state boardPennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board

The stormwater permit appeal#

A stormwater permit first written for 58 homes now covers 693 acres, through four amendments that never went out for public comment. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) ruled only on the fourth amendment, so we took all four to the Environmental Hearing Board.

Asks the Hearing Board to revoke the permit coverage for the data center's first phases, or to require an individual permit before more earth is disturbed.

What's next: The appeal is before the Environmental Hearing Board, an independent panel that reviews DEP decisions. Evidence gathering, called discovery, closes February 10, 2027.

If we win: If the permit is pulled or narrowed, construction could stop or slow while the developer starts over with the right permit and a real public process.

The filings

View the hearing requestView DEP's determinationView the appealView the schedule orderView the amendment

Every step so far (6)

  1. June 16, 2026

    Two resident families ask DEP for an informal hearing.

  2. July 1, 2026

    DEP holds the hearing at its Southcentral Regional Office.

  3. July 16, 2026

    DEP rules on the fourth amendment only. It calls the wrong permittee name a clerical error, since corrected, and finds no basis to overturn the District's approval.

  4. August 13, 2026

    Appealed to the Environmental Hearing Board: all four amendments, and the determination.

  5. August 14, 2026

    The Hearing Board assigns the appeal to a judge and sets the schedule.

  6. September 2, 2026

    The appeal adds new evidence, including an August 5 county inspection that found erosion-control violations.

The permit, step by step

Article I, Section 27, Pennsylvania Constitution

The Environmental Rights Amendment#

“The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”

The Pennsylvania Constitution gives every person the right to clean air, pure water, and the natural beauty around them. It makes the government a trustee, bound to protect these things for everyone, including the generations not yet born.

Trustee is the key word: the government is not free to hand these resources away. In 2013 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that a government body has to weigh the environmental impact before it acts, not after.

Two of our challenges, the spot zoning challenge and the stormwater permit appeal, argue that this project was approved in violation of it.

Read what the challenge asksRead the appeal's argument

Fund the fight

Every case, one legal fund.

Briefs, expert witnesses, transcripts, and filing fees. Every case is running at once, and every one of them costs money.

Fund the Fight100% goes to the legal fund.