By 1808Delaware
“This transforms a residential adjacent data center into a fossil fuel power plant overnight.” “They produce vibration you feel.” “We don’t want this.” Over the course of Monday night’s meeting of the City of Sunbury Planning and Zoning Commission, at which consideration of a rezoning request was again postponed because of non-submitted update documents, residents did not speak in abstractions.
Instead, they spoke in warnings, in lived experience, and in blunt conclusions about what a proposed data center and industrial rezoning could mean for Sunbury and the surrounding area. The language itself—direct, urgent, and often repeated—became the story.
A Debate Defined by Specific Fears
One of the most detailed critiques centered on backup power systems and their potential impact during peak demand.
“During times of extreme winter cold or summer heat… the EPA can authorize these data centers to run their generators to stabilize the grid,” one resident said. “This transforms a residential adjacent data center into a fossil fuel power plant overnight.”
She pointed to the scale of those systems.
“When you cluster 158 of these… you’re getting a concentrated plume of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter that travels miles by wind and settles directly over our homes and our schools.”
“They Produce Vibration You Feel”
Noise—specifically low-frequency sound—was another consistent theme.
“Data centers don’t just produce noise you hear,” one speaker said. “They produce vibration you feel.”
He described how standard measurements may understate the impact.
“The decibel meter might tell you a data center is as quiet as a library… [but] the C-weighted meters would tell a much different story.”
According to his remarks, those effects extend well beyond the immediate site.
“The 1 to 2 mile zone… the drone or hum can remain audible and disruptive… especially at night.”
Health and Environmental Concerns
Several speakers connected those impacts directly to long-term health risks.
“These microscopic particles bypass the blood-brain barrier… accelerating the cellular damage characteristic of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” one resident said in reference to diesel emissions.
Others focused on resource use.
“Midsize facilities can use up to 300,000 gallons of water a day,” one speaker said. “We can’t create more water.”
Another warned about chemical exposure tied to cooling systems.
“They use on average 60,000 gallons of glycol and other cooling agents,” he said, describing an incident he had witnessed.
“It’s About Whether This Community Will Remain Rural”
For many, the issue extended beyond environmental or technical concerns.
“This is not about the data center,” one resident said. “It’s about whether this community will remain rural or whether we are opening the door to industrialization.”
He warned of long-term consequences.
“Once a facility is approved, that precedent is set, and more will follow.”
Others echoed that sense of permanence.
“Once that data center is here, it doesn’t go away,” another speaker said. “It’s there forever.”
Economic and Personal Impacts
Some residents framed the issue in terms of financial uncertainty.
“We were going to refinish our basement… we’re not doing that now because I have no idea what my property value is going to be,” one homeowner said.
Others questioned the broader economic case.
“What is the cost analysis?” another asked. “Have we looked at the profit… versus the loss?”
Process and Trust
Beyond the substance, the process itself came under scrutiny.
“Why didn’t you have conversations about this with the community?” one resident asked.
Another pointed to the importance of zoning decisions.
“Once you zone that land… projects are very hard to stop,” she said.
Calls for further study were direct.
“I’m requesting… a comprehensive environmental impact assessment,” one speaker said.
“We Don’t Want This”
By the end of the evening, the most repeated message was also the simplest.
“This room is packed… we don’t want this,” one resident said.
For a meeting that began with routine zoning matters, the public comment period made one thing unmistakably clear. The debate over a data center in Sunbury is no longer technical. It is personal, immediate, and, as residents themselves made clear, far from resolved.
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
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