NorthPoint Development sent letters to roughly 4,500 households in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania, offering about $10,000 each if its proposed data center campus wins final approval. Thousands of residents have rejected the offer, saying the one-time payment isn't enough to offset their worries about noise, energy use and the rural character of their community near the Pocono foothills.
The proposal, known as Project Hazlenut, calls for a 1,300-acre data center campus that would support artificial intelligence technology, according to Cleveland.com. NorthPoint has proposed a 15-building campus in the township's Humboldt Industrial Park, according to a report from WVIA, which noted the total property spans 1,300 acres, with the campus built on 616 acres and the remaining 684 acres left undeveloped.
The payments NorthPoint promised would total about $45 million if made to all 4,500 eligible households, and they are conditional on the project receiving final approval. NorthPoint has said the payments were a response to residents who asked what direct benefits they would receive from the project, per Cleveland.com's reporting citing Entrepreneur. The company also says it plans to invest another $120 million in local community programs and services over 15 years.
A $165 Million Package, But Residents Aren't Sold
The $10,000 household grants are part of a larger $165 million community-benefits package, according to PennLive. That package includes a $15 million community-support fund, a $45 million resident-grant fund designed to cover all 4,500 township households, and a $105 million long-term investment fund to be disbursed in annual $7 million installments over 15 years, the outlet reported.
Despite the scale of the offer, Hazle Township residents have rejected it as insufficient to win their support. Many have questioned whether the payments were designed simply to buy public backing for a project they otherwise oppose. Hazle Township has a median household income of around $60,000 a year, making the one-time $10,000 sum a significant amount for many families — yet still not enough, by residents' own accounts, to offset their concerns.
Noise, Water and Worries Over Rural Character
Residents have raised concerns about water consumption, environmental impacts, noise, lighting, power usage, traffic, property values and quality of life, according to a report from Fox56. Some fear the project could change the rural character of the area altogether, while others worry it could depress home values.
NorthPoint has said the maximum amount of treated wastewater the 15 buildings would use is 2.8 million gallons, and that the project's water usage could reduce the flow of nearby Black Creek by 5.5%, per the same WVIA report. The company estimates the project would create more than 1,300 construction jobs during a six-year buildout and more than 900 permanent operational jobs once complete, Fox56 reported — though those figures come from the developer itself.
Supervisors Said No, and the Fight Moved to Court
Hazle Township supervisors voted 3-0 in November 2025 to deny NorthPoint's land-development plans, the WVIA report noted. NorthPoint has since appealed the matter to Commonwealth Court, and the project has not received final approval. Even as the appeal proceeds, the company has said it is continuing the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection permitting process.
Part of a Bigger Pennsylvania Power Struggle
The Hazle Township standoff is unfolding against a statewide backdrop of surging electricity demand tied to data centers. Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission projects industrial electricity usage, driven primarily by data centers, will increase an average of 18.56% annually through 2030, according to The Times-Tribune. The commission said industrial electricity usage could increase by almost 19% annually over the next five years, with data centers accounting for 30 of the 32 gigawatts of forecast demand increases across the regional PJM grid between 2024 and 2030.
More than 100 data centers are already operating across Pennsylvania, with dozens more in planning, according to Technical.ly. The outlet noted such facilities can bring investment, tax revenue and construction jobs, but long-term employment tends to be limited once buildout is complete. Neighboring Lackawanna County has around 90 proposed data centers of its own, with multiple proposals tied up in litigation, per The Times-Tribune's reporting.
Communities across the country are wrestling with similar tensions between economic growth, AI expansion and quality-of-life concerns. In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a formal data-center benefit agreement requires developers to use only clean energy, hire locally, submit yearly reports and pay $20 million into community-development funds, according to Spotlight PA. Elsewhere, a volunteer fire department in Osage County, Oklahoma, rejected a $250,000 donation from Google tied to a data center project because of community concerns, while officials in Saline, Michigan, accepted a $10 million donation from OpenAI, Oracle and other companies for a recreation-center renovation.
Whether Hazle Township residents will see the situation resolved anytime soon remains unclear, as NorthPoint's Commonwealth Court appeal continues to play out alongside the ongoing DEP permitting process.
