Project Gold Data Center, Clifton Township, Pennsylvania

1778 Rich Pike LLC, the developer behind Project Gold Data Center, sued Clifton Township in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania in April 2025, arguing that the township's zoning ordinance illegally excluded data centers, their equipment and private power generation. The township's supervisors rejected a first settlement 2 to 1 in August 2025, with chair Jill Zindle the only yes vote, then approved a revised settlement unanimously on January 2, 2026. The settlement raises the township's height limit for data centers from 35 feet to 65 feet, with rooftop equipment adding another 15 feet, for 80 feet in all.

Zindle said the settlement covers zoning only: "This does not stop the process for them having to go through all land development... it doesn't mean they pour concrete tomorrow." Matt Gruenloh, an incoming supervisor and planning commission member, said: "I understand that what you did is legal. I just don't think it was appropriate." Howard Ives said: "My family owns 150 acres. I'm fourth generation. This data center will destroy the value and the habitat of my property."

June Ejk held the supervisors to their own rules: "We have a township ordinance that does not allow buildings to go over 35 feet... you are violating your own township ordinance." Matthew Chase asked for time: "Give the public time to read these settlements, to read these proposals, give the public time to comment," and residents said they would take the supervisors to court.

Project Gold is planned on at least seven properties along Route 380 between Clifton and Covington townships; the settlement splits the Clifton portion into three campuses with five two-story buildings, a utility switchyard and an administration building. The developer, based in Doylestown, now describes an 11-building campus, and a company sharing its address, Gouldsboro Land LLC, bought 456 acres in the two townships between December 2025 and June 2026.

On August 19, 2026, Lackawanna County Judge Mark Powell ruled the township's May 2025 data center ordinance void, which the township solicitor said means "effectively it never became law." The supervisors are writing a new ordinance, and at its first hearing the next day residents asked for wider woodland buffers than the draft's 100 feet, tighter water limits and a 35-foot height cap, while the developer's lawyer sent the township his own marked-up version.