Union County residents push back on proposed data center project

Residents in Gregg Township are pushing back before a shovel ever hits the ground on a proposed data center at Great Stream Commons Industrial Park in Allenwood. At an open house in early April, people crowded into a social hall to study displays, ask questions and raise concerns about New York-based PNK Group’s plan to retrofit an existing building at the site.

PNK Group has not finalized a tenant, but presentations tied to the project show the building would likely be used for artificial intelligence work. Neighbors are being asked to weigh a major land-use change, and the full operating profile, from how much electricity it would draw to how much water it would consume, is still not fixed.

People interviewed at the meeting raised worries about noise, the environment, the electric grid, property values, water contamination and the way a large industrial operation could alter the character of a neighborhood that many described as quiet and walkable. Susan Smith-Milley said the overwhelming sentiment she heard was simple opposition. James Krouse, who said the project would be in his backyard, pointed to nearly every major concern critics typically raise around high-energy facilities. Jared Welch was outside collecting signatures against the project, a sign that the resistance has already moved into organized action.

Cheryl Palm also voiced opposition. She focused on noise and property values, and said the area now supports birds and deer and feels far removed from the kind of heavy infrastructure a data center would bring. If the project advances, township leaders and county officials will have to confront traffic, utility demand, zoning expectations and whether promised tax revenue or jobs would offset those tradeoffs.

A later plan seeks approval for up to four data centers at Great Stream Commons, with one facility using part of the existing 478,388-square-foot warehouse and three more buildings in new construction totaling about 1.5 million square feet. Great Stream Commons is a 500-plus-acre master-planned industrial park, and Il Pastaio was announced in 2025 as building a 71,300-square-foot manufacturing facility there.