Developer offers Hazle Township households $10,000 each for data center

Township rejected the project on zoning grounds; litigation pending

The letters began arriving in June, addressed to every household in the small Pennsylvania township, with a straightforward pitch from a major developer: $10,000 to each family if the township would approve a data center. NorthPoint Development’s offer to the roughly 4,500 households in Hazle Township would total $45 million. The project is the first of 15 buildings the firm planned on 1,300 acres in the Pocono foothills.

For many in the township, which has a median household income of about $60,000, a payout of that size would be significant — potentially covering about six months of rent for a two-bedroom apartment or many more months of groceries or fuel, even after taxes. But regardless of income, job status or location, few of the people in Hazle Township interviewed by the Journal indicated that they are eager to welcome the data center for the payout.

Residents who received the letter gave a variety of reasons for rejecting it, from the accompanying noise to concerns about falling property values and what the Journal described as a general aversion to the rapid spread of artificial intelligence. A common thread was distrust toward the projects or the people behind them.

“$10,000 doesn’t match how much it’s going to tank my property value,” said Jeff Fasnacht, a retired teacher whose house lies near the planned data center, nursing a scotch and cigar after a morning round of golf at the Eagle Rock Resort.

Diana Spallone, a special-education teacher who got the letter, said her overriding concern was what an influx of data centers would do to her home’s value. But she and her husband had recently made home improvements, including a new roof, and the payout would help replenish their savings. “$10,000 would be nice,” Spallone said.

Charlie Leshko, a retired maintenance man and janitor who lives in a seniors residence in Hazleton, was intrigued by the cash offer. Although he lives just outside the area eligible for the money, he understood why it might appeal. “$10,000 don’t come along every day,” he said, adding that the money could go toward a new car or a down payment on a house. “I always wanted to have my own house,” Leshko said.

Carl Majusiak, a retired foundry worker who contemplated the offer while sipping a Miller Lite at the Dog House Saloon in West Hazleton, said he initially considered it. “At first it seems like ‘well, OK, maybe I’ll think about it,’” Majusiak said. But he decided: “we don’t need that around here.” Fifteen years earlier, developers had started clearing forests to build warehouses in the area, he recalled, and he lost his favorite deer hunting spot to cinder blocks.

Ed Negra, a retired homeowner in Hazle Township who is helping organize opposition to the project, said the $10,000 offer might backfire. “I think it works the opposite way, because most people have the opinion that, ‘hey, are they trying to bribe us here?’”

John Zola, a resident of nearby Sugarloaf who opposes construction of data-center transmission lines through his property, said small-town politicians across Pennsylvania are too easily wooed or overwhelmed by big developers. Then “the gates open, and then the municipalities provide 10-year tax abatements,” he said.

Brent Miles, chief marketing officer at NorthPoint, said the idea for the payments came after a raucous public meeting last year, where angry residents asked what they had to gain by supporting the data center. “I think we’ve got something here that’s on the cutting edge,” Miles said in an interview, “really in direct response to ‘what’s in it for me?’”

In addition to the resident payment fund, Miles touted another $120 million in payments the company plans to make over the next 15 years, including money for a police department and other community investments. He estimated the company has converted close to 100 residents initially skeptical about the payments by answering their questions and clearing up what he called misinformation about water, energy costs, noise and other issues.

Some residents who got the $10,000 offer own big houses with views of the mountains. Others live in the former coal patch towns that encircle the small city of Hazleton, where weathered vinyl-sided homes with soiled awnings line the streets and the taverns fill up by five o’clock.

In nearby Salem Township, dozens of families have made millions selling their land for server farms. But as community backlash to data-center construction builds throughout Pennsylvania, the $10,000 payout seemed to many residents like a too-cheap attempt to buy their acquiescence.

The project’s fate looks uncertain. Hazle Township’s government rejected the development on zoning grounds in November. NorthPoint then sued the township to overturn the decision, an action still being litigated. In the interim, the township has enacted a temporary moratorium on data-center construction while it works to update its zoning laws.

Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order last month banning nondisclosure agreements between local governments and data-center companies. Locals said they worry governments and developers are keeping information about projects from the public. In Hazle Township, residents have also spotted developer generosity at the local Italian festival — “Free Amusement Rides Sponsored By NorthPoint.”

Data-center developers are increasingly offering towns and cities packages in the tens of millions of dollars, including funds for fire departments, emergency services and schools. The Journal characterized direct cash payments to residents as marking a new phase in the AI build-out.