<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0CPMcH_1FJ0b4j900" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0CPMcH_1FJ0b4j900" width="1600" height="1148" ><figcaption>Misty Hollow Farm sits dormant on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, in Forward Township. Andrew Jackson/Butler Eagle</figcaption></figure>Construction of a million square-foot data center with a wastewater treatment facility, power station and an office building is being proposed on two lots totaling 274 acres in Forward Township.County planning officials said the proposed Misty Hollow Energy and Data Campus includes a million-square-foot data center building, an 80,000-square-foot wastewater treatment facility, a 23,800-square-foot office building, power station facilities spread over about 10 acres and a security building and gate. A 416,000-square-foot area is designated for possible future expansion.The proposed data center was discussed at a recent Butler County Planning Commission meeting. The preliminary plan for the project is on the agenda of Thursday’s township planning commission meeting.Forward Township’s consulting engineer, Gannett Fleming, is reviewing the preliminary plan, according to township manager Thomas Hartwig.Proposed siteThe proposed facility would be constructed on the former Misty Hollow Farm, a 232.4-acre property at 614 Prospect Road and an adjacent 41.9-acre parcel. The property is now owned by 614 Prospect RD LLC.Connoquenessing Creek forms a horseshoe around the proposed site, but project plans do not include drawing water from the creek or discharging water into the creek. Instead, plans call for connecting a private, 16-inch waterline to an existing waterline near the intersection of Prospect Road and Harmony Street Extension.“Misty Hollow is in the early stages of the public review and approval process. Our goal is to secure final approvals early next year, with the project potentially completed as early as mid-2029,” said Allen Sherwood, of Prospect RD LLC, providing a statement through Bracewell LLP, a Washington D.C. law and advocacy firm in the energy, infrastructure, finance and technology fields.Planning commission officials said they believe the water treatment plant would treat the water after it cools the data center in a “closed loop” water system.“The data center is being designed with a closed-loop cooling system intended to significantly limit water demand,” the statement from Sherwood said. “The current plan does not call for drawing water from the nearby creek. Instead, the project team is evaluating an on-site water system, with the final design to be determined as engineering and permitting progress.”Further, he said the campus is being designed to support “modern, high-performance computing needs, potentially including artificial intelligence applications.”“At this stage, the developers remain in preliminary discussions with potential tenants and end users, and no specific end user has been announced,” he said.He also addressed how the project would construct an on-site wastewater treatment facility rather than relying on the public sewer system.“The specific treatment and discharge approach is still being developed and will be subject to all applicable regulatory permitting and review requirements,” he said.Forward Township supervisors and the township planning commission decided months ago to amend its subdivision and land development ordinance (SALDO) to address all industrial development and not just data centers before the Misty Hollow project was proposed, according to Hartwig.He said the township supervisors will probably vote on the ordinance amendment at their November meeting, but noted the Misty Hollow preliminary plan was submitted before the amendment would take effect.“With the Route 68 corridor and Mars Evans City Road corridor being major transportation routes through the township, the planning commission and board of supervisors felt that the potential for other non-residential land development was probably pretty high, hence they felt the need to amend our SALDO to protect existing property owners in the vicinity of any industrial land development that may be proposed,” Hartwig said in an email.Forward Township does not have a zoning ordinance, he added.</div></body>

Block Source: cranberryeagle.com

Misinformation

Clickbait

Old or repetitive news

Explicit content

Location not relevant

Construction of a million square-foot data center with a wastewater treatment facility, power station and an office building is being proposed on two lots totaling 274 acres in Forward Township. County planning officials said the proposed Misty Hollow Energy and Data Campus includes a million-square-foot data center building, an 80,000-square-foot...

Massive data center proposed in Forward Township

NewsBreak

Construction of a million square-foot data center with a wastewater treatment facility, power station and an office building is being proposed on two lots 

Massive data center proposed in Forward Township

Comments / 4