Ryncavage Outlines Potential Legal Challenge to Newport Data Center Zoning Change

October 6, 2026

HARRISBURG – State Rep. Alec Ryncavage (R-Luzerne) has informed Newport Township residents of a potential legal avenue to challenge an April zoning ordinance change that ultimately allowed 15 zoning permits for a proposed data center campus to be approved.

Hundreds of residents packed Monday night's regularly scheduled Newport Township commissioners meeting to raise concerns about proposed data center development. Ryncavage was in Harrisburg for legislative session during the meeting but watched the proceedings and subsequently worked with his staff and resources available through the House Local Government Committee to review the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code and case law governing procedural challenges to municipal ordinances.

The zoning change at issue did not occur Monday night. It was enacted months earlier, in April. Ryncavage said the central question is whether the public notice provided at the time adequately informed residents that the township was considering a zoning change that would permit data centers by right.

A "by right" use means that if an application meets the requirements established by the zoning ordinance, municipal officials generally do not have discretion to deny the use simply because residents or local officials oppose it. Unlike a conditional use or special exception, it does not require a separate discretionary zoning hearing before the use can be approved.

"Advertising a meeting and allowing the public to participate does not necessarily mean residents received meaningful notice of what their government was actually considering," Ryncavage said. "The question is whether Newport Township clearly informed its residents in April that it was changing its zoning law to allow data centers by right. The residents I have spoken with don't believe it did."

Pennsylvania generally provides a 30-day window to challenge defects in the procedure used to enact an ordinance. However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has recognized circumstances in which a challenge filed after that period may proceed when a procedural failure involving notice results in a deprivation of constitutional due-process rights.

Under state law, a late-filed challenge faces a higher burden and must establish, among other requirements, that a procedural failure resulted in insufficient public notification that prevented the public from commenting on the changes, intervening if necessary, or knowing of the ordinance's existence.

"The issue isn't whether an advertisement was published. The issue is whether that advertisement fairly put the public on notice that their zoning ordinance was being changed to permit data centers by right," Ryncavage said. "When hundreds of residents show up months later demanding to be heard, we should be asking whether they were clearly told what was happening when their opportunity to influence the zoning law actually existed."

The consequences of the April change are now becoming clear. By making data centers a permitted use by right, the township removed a discretionary zoning hearing from that stage of the process. A hearing for each application would have required public posting of the property, two newspaper advertisements, and an opportunity for residents to review the application, voice their concerns and, where appropriate, advocate for additional approval conditions to address significant issues.

When the zoning permits for the proposed data center development were subsequently issued under the ordinance, township zoning and code officials were required to administer the zoning law as it had been adopted.

"That is why the April public notice matters so much," Ryncavage said. "The critical opportunity for residents to be heard was before their local government changed the law. If the public was not clearly told that data centers were being authorized by right, residents deserve to know whether they still have a legal remedy."

Ryncavage said he provided organizers of the Newport Township Say No To Data Centers group with information about the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling and the state's procedural-validity law so residents can consult legal counsel and determine whether the circumstances surrounding the April ordinance provide grounds for a challenge.

"This is bigger than one project and one township," Ryncavage said. "Communities across Pennsylvania are going to face enormous pressure from data center development. It would set a terrible precedent if consequential zoning changes can be buried in vague public notices, major new uses authorized by right, and residents later told they had their opportunity to object because a meeting technically took place."

"I have been fighting this from every level available to me," Ryncavage said. "I voted for a six-month moratorium on data center development, to eliminate the sales tax exemption on data center equipment, and to require reporting of data center water and electricity usage. I cannot undo an April vote of the Newport Township commissioners from Harrisburg, but I can use every resource available to my office to make sure residents understand their rights and continue working at the state level to protect our communities and utility ratepayers."

Representative Alec Ryncavage
119th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Melissa Fox
717.260.6522
mefox@pahousegop.com
RepRyncavagePA.com / Facebook.com/RepRyncavage