Timeline
Updated October 5, 2026See how we got here.
In about a year, PAX-1 went from a zoning draft by the developer's attorney to bulldozers on the farmland, much of it out of public view. Here are the steps, in order. Every date is on the public record, and most link to the document behind it.
Showing the 37 key moments. Switch to the full record for all 166 entries.
Behind the scenes marks emails, internal memos, and agency actions that were not public when they happened. Much of it came to light later through Right-to-Know requests.
Chapter 1 · 2017 to September 2024
Before PAX-1#
In late 2022 Middlesex began rewriting its 1989 zoning ordinance. The steering committee's final draft, circulated in October 2023, listed five special overlay districts, and the words “data center” appear nowhere in its 394 pages.
October 19, 2023 · Zoning
The draft zoning never mentions data centers#
The Zoning Steering Committee's final draft of the new zoning ordinance is circulated. Section 2.01 lists five special overlay districts: Airport Hazard, Floodplain Conservation, Riparian Buffer, Redevelopment Opportunity and Wellhead Protection. The words “data center” appear nowhere in the 394-page draft.
Chapter 2 · October 2024 to April 2025
The overlay is written#
The developer's team presented the data center to the Supervisors in October 2024. In December its attorney emailed the Township a full draft of a data center overlay, and in January the Township's consultant confirmed the developer's text was in the draft. None of those emails were part of a public meeting.
October 25, 2024 · Zoning
The data center is first presented to the Supervisors#
At a Supervisors' workshop, the developer's attorney, PowerHouse CEO Doug Fleit, and the project team present the data center concept for the first time; the Supervisors voice support the same day and send it to the Planning Commission. The minutes list the item only as a request “regarding possible use of PennTerra property at 256 Country Club Road,” and record no public comment.
Behind the scenes
December 4, 2024 · Zoning
The developer's attorney sends a full draft of the overlay#
The developer's attorney emails the Township and its planning consultant a pre-drafted Data Center Overlay ordinance for the Township's new zoning ordinance, sent outside any public meeting.
Behind the scenes
January 7, 2025 · Zoning
The developer's text goes into the Township's draft#
The Township planning consultant confirms to the developer's attorney: “we have the Data Center Overlay language incorporated into the draft.” The developer's text is now in the Township's ordinance.
Behind the scenes
January 31, 2025 · Zoning
The Supervisors want data centers allowed by right#
An internal Township email passes along direction from the Supervisors to the Township's planning consultant: “Allow Data Centers By Right in the Data Center Overlay District area (on the PennTerra & McNaughton properties along Country Club Road in the MU-1 Zoning District) and in the Industrial Districts.” The same email conveys the Solicitor's opinion that the Comprehensive Plan is “obsolete and no longer relevant,” so its Future Land Use Map “does not need to be updated before the Board of Supervisors consider the new Zoning Ordinance at a Public Hearing.” That morning's workshop minutes record no mention of data centers, the overlay, or either property.
Behind the scenes
April 16, 2025 · Zoning
The attorney plans a separate amendment, then drops it#
The developer's attorney tells the Township his client will file a standalone overlay amendment “for belts and suspenders.” Later that evening, he retracts that intention: “Powerhouse has decided NOT to do a separate amendment.”
April 17, 2025 · Zoning
The county votes against the zoning rewrite#
The County Planning Commission votes unanimously to deny approval of the Township's full zoning rewrite “until CCPC comments are addressed.” Zoning Officer Mark Carpenter attends and asks the county to approve it anyway, stating the comments can be addressed later through amendments.
Chapter 3 · April to May 2025
Thirty-five days#
On April 25, 2025, the developer's attorney urged the Supervisors to move quickly, citing PPL power allocated on a “first-come, first available basis.” Thirty-five days later, at a 7:30 a.m. hearing where every speaker raised concerns, they adopted the overlay unanimously.
April 23, 2025 · Zoning
The developer files for its own overlay#
The developer's attorney files the standalone Data Center Overlay amendment (TPF 25-7) for the landowner, KMWW Partnership. The application says the zoning must be in place as soon as possible “or else the availability of power is jeopardized and with it, the viability of the data center project.”
April 25, 2025 · Zoning
The Supervisors schedule the vote, and the 35 days begin#
At a workshop, the developer's attorney urges speed, saying PPL power will be allocated on a “first-come, first available basis,” and the Board schedules the overlay hearing for May 30, with the developer paying for the advertising. It is the first Supervisors' or Planning Commission agenda to name a data center. The 35-day clock starts.
May 30, 2025 · Zoning
The Supervisors adopt the overlay at 7:30 a.m.#
At a 7:30 a.m. public hearing, five people speak, and every one raises concerns. Four ask the Supervisors to wait for more information. Asked how much water the data center will use, the chairman answers, “Ma'am, I have no idea.” The Supervisors adopt Ordinance 3-2025 anyway, unanimously, 35 days after they took up the request.
View the signed ordinanceView the hearing transcriptRead the chairman's answerView the minutes
Chapter 4 · June to September 2025
The land changes hands#
Within weeks of the vote, the developer's company registered in Pennsylvania, bought the farmland, and announced PAX-1 as a $15 billion project. In September the Township's zoning rewrite relabeled the land a mixed-use neighborhood, with the overlay still on top.
July 15, 2025 · Impacts
PAX-1 is announced as a $15 billion project#
PAX-1 is announced as a ~$15 billion project at Senator McCormick's Energy and Innovation Summit; developer Igal Feibush joins a private roundtable with the President.
Behind the scenes
August 7, 2025 · Impacts, Permits
DEP cites the wetland violation#
DEP issues a Notice of Violation for the unpermitted line through the wetland on Country Club Road, citing the Clean Streams Law. It goes to Club Road Properties, the developer of the earlier Cumberland Knoll housing project, and its excavator: the line is Cumberland Knoll's sewer line, laid on a parcel Club Road did not own. The PAX-1 developer, which bought the parcel in July, agrees to file the after-the-fact permit.
August 12, 2025 · Zoning
Residents pack a Township meeting#
Residents pack a Township meeting with questions about the data center; PennLive reports the first organized resistance and skepticism.
August 18, 2025 · Zoning
The first land development plan is submitted#
The Phase 1A land development plan, PPL's substation site, is submitted to the Township.
September 3, 2025 · Zoning
The new zoning labels the land a neighborhood#
The Supervisors adopt Ordinance 7-2025, the comprehensive zoning rewrite: the overlay is folded in as Section 2.18, the land under it becomes MU-1 “Mixed-Use Neighborhood,” and data centers become by-right in the Industrial district. The overlay has been law since May 30, and the first plans under it were filed in August.
Behind the scenes
September 8, 2025 · Permits
A “minor” permit amendment, with no public notice#
CCCD approves the stormwater permit amendment for the PPL laydown yard as a “minor” amendment, though its own earth-disturbance table takes impervious cover from 0.57 acres to 13.77. No notice is published, and no county or municipal notification is given.
Chapter 5 · October to December 2025
The permit stretches#
The stormwater permit written for 58 homes kept being amended. On December 30, 2025, an amendment filed as a water main relocation grew it from 36 acres to 693.
Behind the scenes
December 30, 2025 · Permits
The permit grows from 36 acres to 693#
CCCD approves the stormwater amendment for the water main relocation, seven days after declaring the application complete and saying technical review would now begin. The permit site grows from 36 acres to 693, and the project description now reads: a 693-acre data center. No technical deficiency letter appears anywhere in the produced record. Its public notice, in the January 31 Pennsylvania Bulletin, lists the company's Virginia address but not the site's name, address, or acreage.
View the approvalView the completeness letterView the appealThe appeal on the notice
Chapter 6 · January to May 2026
Building before approval#
Earthmoving began in January 2026 and blasting followed in the spring, while plans were still under review. The state found the project will have an adverse effect on the Appalachian Trail, and county reviewers found 82 deficiencies in the stormwater plans.
January 5, 2026 · Zoning
The subdivision is approved: one data center on 693 acres#
The Supervisors conditionally approve the preliminary subdivision: 693 acres, five lots, one data center development.
January 23, 2026 · Impacts
The state finds the project will harm the Trail#
The State Historic Preservation Office rejects the developer's “no adverse effect” memo and formally finds the project WILL have an adverse effect on the Appalachian Trail.
Behind the scenes
March 30, 2026 · Permits
County reviewers find 82 deficiencies in the stormwater plans#
CCCD's technical review of the Phase 1A/1B stormwater plans finds 82 deficiencies: 49 in erosion control and 33 in post-construction stormwater.
April 13, 2026 · Impacts
The developer's own noise study is finished#
The developer's own noise study is completed. Its equipment table lists 582 generators across the campus.
May 6, 2026 · Zoning
Three approvals in one meeting, with 29 waivers#
In one meeting, the Supervisors conditionally approve the final subdivision, the final Phase 1A plan, and the preliminary Phase 1B plan, with 29 more waivers, modifications, and deferrals of Township standards across the three approvals. Public comment is for Middlesex residents and taxpayers only, and a Silver Spring Township neighbor is not allowed to speak.
View the Phase 1B approvalView the subdivision approvalView the Phase 1A approvalWatch a neighbor turned away
Chapter 7 · May 2026 to now
Neighbors go to court#
Five couples who live beside the site challenged the overlay as spot zoning in May 2026. After the Zoning Hearing Board failed to hold a hearing, they took the challenge to county court. They also appealed the May, July and September plan approvals, and two families took the stormwater permit to the Environmental Hearing Board.
May 13, 2026 · Zoning, Legal
Five couples challenge the overlay as spot zoning#
Five couples who live beside the site file a substantive validity challenge with the Zoning Hearing Board, arguing the Data Center Overlay is illegal spot zoning. Pennsylvania courts have been striking down spot zoning where they find it since the 1960s; the challenge asks the Zoning Hearing Board to find it here.
Behind the scenes
May 18, 2026 · Permits
The permit is amended a fourth time#
Thirteen days after the developer's responses to the 24 open deficiencies, CCCD approves the Phase 1A/1B stormwater amendment on the residential-era permit. The approval names Petri Ottavainen personally as the permittee rather than the company. DEP later calls it a clerical error.
May 18, 2026 · Permits, Legal
A records request reveals all four amendments#
A Right-to-Know response reaches resident Andrew Dymski: 92 documents covering all four permit amendments. It is the first notice anyone outside the agencies has of the address and scope of what the residential-era permit now authorizes.
June 5, 2026 · Zoning, Legal
Residents appeal the May 6 approvals#
The residents appeal the May 6 approvals to the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas, asking the court to review whether the Township followed its own ordinances.
June 15, 2026 · Impacts, Permits
A blast exceeds the state limit at a nearby home#
A blast at the site exceeds the state airblast limit, 140.5 dBL against a limit of 133, measured at a home on Sassafras Lane.
Behind the scenes
June 29, 2026 · Zoning, Legal
The zoning board's hearing is called off#
Nine days before the hearing, the residents' attorney Nathan Wolf calls the Zoning Hearing Board's solicitor to confirm logistics. She tells him the hearing was never advertised and will not happen.
July 16, 2026 · Permits, Legal
DEP answers one of the four objections#
The residents objected to each of the four permit amendments. DEP answers only the objection to the fourth, noting the request came within 30 days of that approval. The other three are left unaddressed. The residents had first seen all four amendments in one records response, on May 18.
July 31, 2026 · Zoning, Legal
Residents appeal the Phase 1C and Phase 2 approvals#
The residents appeal the July 1 approvals to the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas. No written decision had reached them yet, so they file on the Township's draft motions to protect the 30-day deadline.
Behind the scenes
August 5, 2026 · Impacts, Permits
An inspection finds erosion-control violations under the new permit#
Twenty days after DEP said it saw no pattern of violations, a CCCD inspection under the fourth amendment records two erosion-control violations: controls not maintained, with filter socks overtopped and undercut, and bare ground not stabilized. It also notes sediment inside Wetland Y. The District's cover letter calls the violations unlawful conduct under the Clean Streams Law.
August 6, 2026 · Zoning, Legal
The spot zoning challenge goes to county court#
After the Zoning Hearing Board let its 60-day hearing deadline lapse, the residents file their spot zoning challenge in the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas, asking the court to strike the Data Center Overlay.
August 13, 2026 · Permits, Legal
The families appeal to the Environmental Hearing Board#
The two resident families appeal to the Environmental Hearing Board, challenging all four amendments that stretched a stormwater permit written for 58 homes to cover 693 acres of the data center site, and the DEP determination that answered only one of their four objections.
September 2, 2026 · Zoning
The Supervisors approve the Phase 1B final plan and a community benefits agreement#
Over residents' objections, the Supervisors approve every PAX-1 item on the agenda, including a community benefits agreement, a master development agreement, the Phase 1B final land development plan with nine conditions, and the Phase 3 preliminary plan with four.
September 22, 2026 · Zoning, Legal
The court narrows the appeal to Phase 1B and denies the stay for now#
The court dismisses the appeal of the final subdivision and Phase 1A approvals and keeps it going for the Phase 1B plan. It denies the stay without prejudice, so the residents can ask again, and sets oral argument for January 12, 2027.
October 2, 2026 · Zoning, Legal
Residents appeal the Phase 1B final and Phase 3 approvals#
The residents appeal the Supervisors' September 2 approvals of the Phase 1B final plan and the Phase 3 preliminary plan to the Cumberland County Court of Common Pleas. They argue the Supervisors granted relief from township standards without the findings the law requires, tied the approvals to engineering review letters that were never made public before the vote, and gave final approval without the final noise report the Township's engineer asked for. They ask the court to send both plans back to be denied.
October 5, 2026 · Zoning, Legal
The court finds the mandatory hold doesn't apply and schedules a hearing on the merits#
The court finds that the mandatory hold in state law does not apply to the spot zoning challenge, because it covers only hearings pending before the Zoning Hearing Board. On the residents' request for a new hold, it schedules an evidentiary hearing on the merits of the case for November 13, 2026.
Public Records and Intellectual Property Notice
Source & Purpose: Documents hosted on this site are public records Stop PAX-1 obtained lawfully, through requests under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law and from the public filings, postings, and recorded plans of the agencies involved, and they are published strictly for public transparency, review, and informational purposes. External sources link to the original publisher; that material is neither hosted nor controlled by us.
Copyright & Intellectual Property: Stop PAX-1 claims no ownership of these documents. Each one remains the property of its author, who retains full copyright, trademark, and all other proprietary rights in it. The display of these documents under public disclosure laws does not grant any license or right to reproduce, redistribute, modify, or commercially exploit this material without the express written consent of the copyright holder.
No Endorsement or Professional Liability: These plans are provided “as-is” for historical and public reference only. They do not constitute engineering advice, and their inclusion does not imply an endorsement by Stop PAX-1 or by any firm or agency named. These plans may not be current, complete, or suitable for any construction, development, or professional application. Anyone using or relying on these documents does so entirely at their own risk.
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