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Board clears North Point Phase 3 redesign, public raises power and water concerns
Summary
Falls Township supervisors approved North Point’s revised Phase 3 — a multi‑building ‘digital infrastructure’ campus — after presentation by the developer; residents questioned whether local electric and water infrastructure can support data‑center cooling and whether the change from distribution to data use has been fully evaluated.
The Falls Township Board approved preliminary and final land development for North Point’s reconceptualized Phase 3 on the township’s industrial campus, where the applicant presented plans for roughly 10 principal structures on about 247 acres described during the meeting as a "digital infrastructure campus." Attorney Mike McGinness said the redesign responds to an end‑user and will reduce traffic compared with the earlier warehousing plan. Planning staff provided a clean review letter and the planning commission had recommended approval.
Members of the public voiced questions about utility capacity and water use for cooling. One resident asked whether use of public utility power could affect neighboring businesses and residents during brownouts or outages. During Q&A, Mr. McGinness and remote consultant Jeremy (last name not provided on the record) said the available on‑site power supply exceeds the project’s expected demand; the applicant stated the data center would draw on grid connections and not directly divert power from a local generation facility. Concerns were also raised about water needs for cooling systems and whether water recycling plans would be used; those technical questions were noted but not fully resolved during the meeting.
Township professionals said they had no objections to the preliminary and final land development documents at the application stage and that stormwater management had been reviewed. The board voted to approve the application (recorded as Resolution 202511). Several residents asked for ongoing clarity regarding utility impacts and cooling‑water sources; the applicant and professionals indicated further technical documentation is available through the project review process.
The approval authorizes the land‑use changes and moves the proposal into subsequent permitting steps where more detailed infrastructure and utility plans will be reviewed.
