The developer behind a proposed 150,000-square-foot data center in Upper Hanover Township has walked away from the project entirely, pulling both his conditional-use application and a legal challenge to the township's zoning rules after months of fierce local opposition. Robert Downs, a principal of Hanover Development LP, announced the withdrawal at the Upper Hanover Township Board of Supervisors meeting on Oct. 13.
According to The Reporter, the proposal called for a single data center on about 37 acres off Gravel Pike, between Kraussdale and Ziegler roads, a few miles outside East Greenville. The township confirmed it received Downs's written withdrawals the day after that meeting, and its public document center now lists both filings — a Withdrawal of Conditional Use Application and a Withdrawal of Substantive Validity Challenge — each dated Oct. 14, per the Upper Hanover Township Document Center.
Downs told officials his decision came down to badly misreading how angry residents were. The Reporter's report describes it as Downs acknowledging his own underestimate of citizen anger, concerns and fears raised at township meetings over the proposal. The zoning validity challenge he also dropped had argued that banning data centers in the light-industrial district would be unconstitutional under Pennsylvania law.
A Farm Field Keeps Shifting Shape
The Gravel Pike parcel has been the subject of competing visions almost since Hanover Development filed its applications. Just over a month before the withdrawal, the company and Horizon Engineers floated an informal concept for 138 townhomes on the same tract, according to an Upper Hanover Township update from Sept. 9. That sketch plan was never formally submitted, the township said, and it drew a cold reception from both the public and the Board of Supervisors, who deemed it too dense.
Downs hasn't given up on developing the site. The Reporter's account states that he still wants the ability to build on the property either in conformance with its current light-industrial zoning or under a yet-to-be-determined residential zoning designation. What that ultimately looks like remains unclear, since no final proposal has surfaced.
How the Fight Fit Into a Bigger Pennsylvania Pattern
Upper Hanover's showdown landed amid a broader regional reckoning over data centers. The Montgomery County Planning Commission, working with its Chester County counterpart, put together a data-center ordinance guide this year to help municipalities get ahead of similar proposals, according to the Montgomery County Planning Commission. Nationally, at least 81 cities and counties have enacted moratoria on data-center development, per Utility Dive, which also reported that PPL Electric has roughly 20.7 gigawatts of potential data-center load tied up in electric service agreements across Pennsylvania.
State officials have started responding, too. Pennsylvania's Executive Order 2026-05 established new guardrails for data-center development, and Utility Dive reports the resulting permitting framework applies to projects with peak demand above 25 megawatts.
The Reporter noted that the Upper Hanover proposal was considerably smaller than other projects moving through the region, including data centers proposed in Limerick at 1.4 million and 1.7 million square feet, and in East Vincent at the Pennhurst property at 1.9 million square feet. Even a project a fraction of that size couldn't survive the local backlash in Upper Hanover.
Not an Isolated Retreat
Upper Hanover's reversal came just days after developers abandoned a far larger effort nearby. On Oct. 19, developers withdrew their applications for a proposed cluster of seven artificial-intelligence data centers in King of Prussia's Upper Merion Township, a project that would have covered a combined 4 million square feet, according to Patch.
Other Pennsylvania communities have taken more formal steps to head off similar fights. The Plains Township Board of Commissioners rejected creating a technology and energy overlay district for data-center uses on conservation-designated land, per the Times Leader. Penn Forest Township went the opposite direction, with supervisors unanimously approving a 45-page curative zoning amendment in March that allows data centers only as a conditional use requiring at least 30 acres and capping facility height at 60 feet, plus 15 feet for rooftop equipment, according to WVIA.
For now, the Gravel Pike parcel sits in limbo — no longer bound for a data center, not yet approved for townhomes, homes, or anything else. Upper Hanover officials have previously laid out what any future hearing process would require: the township said it has 60 days to schedule a hearing on a conditional-use or zoning-hearing-board application unless an extension is granted, and it must publish legal notice twice in a local paper while mailing notices to property owners within 500 feet of the site, according to the township's public notice. Whether Downs pursues light-industrial or residential plans next, that process would presumably start from scratch.
