Lancaster residents express mixed feelings during AI data center open house
Red Rose residents are engaging with AI data center developers to learn more about the transformation of areas in the Susquehanna Valley into high-tech AI data centers, with one location already being developed on Greenfield Road in Lancaster.With development underway, project developers from Chirisa Technology Parks met with city residents on Wednesday to provide a space for them to meet with experts on various topics and have their questions answered. “From water power, air quality, generators, and more, we have about 10 stations where people can go and talk to all of our experts,” said David Kelly, a managing director with Chirisa Technology Parks. “We have all our engineers here, outside experts and internal experts. So it’s very open, and it’s very open for any questions anyone has.”Kelly noted that his conversations with residents have been beneficial. “So far, pretty positive. You know, people have some very good questions, and we’re hopefully answering those in a transparent manner,” he said.However, some attendees expressed disappointment with the discussions. “I don’t feel I’m getting the specific answers I’m asking about when I bring up forever chemicals, which are in the news for other reasons, how they are showing up in the space of data centers,” said Charlotte Altimare, a Lancaster resident. ” are not prepared to answer that, and that, to me, is very concerning.”Altimare also voiced frustration that the AI center project began without more community input. “I think something as consequential as a multi-billion-dollar data center should have had community input, and it did not have community input,” she said. “They’re hosting this as a means, I think, of sharing perhaps the would-be benefits of the data center. But my issue is that the city residents never got to weigh in on whether they wanted one or not, and here we are skipping a step.”The Greenfield project is in its first phase of development and is expected to be completed in 2027. A second proposed center will be located on Harrisburg Pike.
Red Rose residents are engaging with AI data center developers to learn more about the transformation of areas in the Susquehanna Valley into high-tech AI data centers, with one location already being developed on Greenfield Road in Lancaster.
With development underway, project developers from Chirisa Technology Parks met with city residents on Wednesday to provide a space for them to meet with experts on various topics and have their questions answered.
“From water power, air quality, generators, and more, we have about 10 stations where people can go and talk to all of our experts,” said David Kelly, a managing director with Chirisa Technology Parks. “We have all our engineers here, outside experts and internal experts. So it’s very open, and it’s very open for any questions anyone has.”
Kelly noted that his conversations with residents have been beneficial.
“So far, pretty positive. You know, people have some very good questions, and we’re hopefully answering those in a transparent manner,” he said.
However, some attendees expressed disappointment with the discussions.
“I don’t feel I’m getting the specific answers I’m asking about when I bring up forever chemicals, which are in the news for other reasons, how they are showing up in the space of data centers,” said Charlotte Altimare, a Lancaster resident. “[The developers] are not prepared to answer that, and that, to me, is very concerning.”
Altimare also voiced frustration that the AI center project began without more community input.
“I think something as consequential as a multi-billion-dollar data center should have had community input, and it did not have community input,” she said. “They’re hosting this as a means, I think, of sharing perhaps the would-be benefits of the data center. But my issue is that the city residents never got to weigh in on whether they wanted one or not, and here we are skipping a step.”
The Greenfield project is in its first phase of development and is expected to be completed in 2027. A second proposed center will be located on Harrisburg Pike.