The scene at the Upper Merion Township building last Wednesday night was unlike a typical planning commission meeting. Hundreds of people packed into Freedom Hall and the overflow rooms, with crowds filling the doorways, hallways and main stairs — anxious to get a view of the scheduled presentation. Fire officials and law enforcement officers stood throughout the building. As indoor conditions became stifling during the summer-like evening, people fanned themselves with flyers and distributed bottled water, but their attention remained focused on the speaker.

Developer Brian O’Neill, founder of the King of Prussia-based MLP Ventures, presented his plans to build eight data center buildings in Upper Merion Township. The meeting marked the first public hearing on the projects, where commissioners pressed O’Neill for specifics on the proposals. The role of the planning commission is to make a recommendation to the board of supervisors on whether to approve the project.

Together, the proposed data center campuses span more than 4.5 million square feet, a footprint bigger than the nearby King of Prussia Mall or Philadelphia International Airport. O’Neill is also looking to build a 2 million-square-foot data center across the Schuylkill River in Conshohocken.

The projects, like many across the country, have drawn intense opposition from surrounding residents. More than 11,000 people have signed a Change.org petition rejecting the projects and “all future AI data centers” in King of Prussia, as of Tuesday at press time.

“Who, I ask you, is looking out for us, the taxpaying citizens of Upper Merion?” resident John Shanley said to township officials during the public comment period. “Please reject this outrageous plan that lacks any due diligence, common sense, real science, and concern for the health and well-being of the residents of Upper Merion.”

The planning commission made no decisions. Commissioners plan to hold more meetings and it’s unknown when they’ll make a recommendation to the board of supervisors.

During the five-hour meeting, township officials had to pause several times to establish order as attendees interrupted O’Neill with boos and shouting. Attendees outside Freedom Hall watched it virtually on monitors and their phones, with dozens wearing “No Data Centers” stickers.

“I can’t tell you how to feel or how to think,” O’Neill told the crowd. “All I can tell you is that we will make ourselves available to any and all of you as long as it takes. We’ll answer every question.”

O’Neill’s businesses have been developing properties in the area for 30 years. “We have nothing to hide. We’ve been good neighbors for a long time, and we intend to continue to be good neighbors in Upper Merion,” he added.

The Philadelphia developer is looking to build the facilities at The Discovery Labs, a tech, health care and life sciences office campus at King of Prussia’s Renaissance Park. The proposed sites are located on Renaissance Boulevard, Horizon Drive, Swedeland Road and River Road. O’Neill did not disclose the identity of the tenant.

He estimates that energy consumption will total about 900 megawatts, which is enough to power about one million homes. The projects will have their own power generation, specifically natural gas generators.

The facilities will have a closed-loop cooling system to reduce water usage, as well as include air-quality and noise mitigation measures, O’Neill said. It will be “dark sky approved” in terms of light pollution. O’Neill said the project is expected to increase township tax revenue by 54% and create jobs, but he didn’t specify how many.

Commissioner Melanie Cichy asked if these projects will tap into local aquifers, which supply water to municipal residents. “That is not the intention,” O’Neill replied.

The commissioners and O’Neill’s team debated whether the projects would be allowed in the suburban metro zoning district, where three out of the five proposed campuses are located. Under the current zoning, data centers are treated as warehouses, said the developer’s attorney Ed Campbell. Warehouses are a permitted use in the district.

The developer will ensure the projects comply with Upper Merion Township’s recently adopted data center zoning ordinance, which includes stricter requirements on the facilities’ size, noise, water usage, zoning and other elements. Upper Merion Township’s Board of Supervisors confirmed this in an earlier statement. The developer isn’t obligated to abide by these new regulations since he submitted the proposals before Upper Merion enacted the ordinance.

“We are endeavoring in many respects, where possible, to meet the requirements that the new ordinance has set forth,” Campbell said.

The new ordinance requires the facility to be more than 1,000 feet from a residential area. But some residents argue the proposed sites are closer than that.

Resident Courtney Smith said the data centers violate the township’s zoning code due to the proposed onsite power generation.

“These are not warehouses, these are power plants,” she said during the two-hour public comment period.

Dozens of residents expressed their worries about the potential impacts the project could have on their quality of life, environment, health and home values.

Resident Juliette Dunn said data center neighbors in the United States are reporting negative health effects and constant noise.

“No amount of tax revenue is worth the terrible effects it will cause to our residents,” she said.

Some mentioned MLP Ventures’ track record. Upper Merion Tax Collector Evelyn Ankers said that a business associated with the developer has failed to pay its taxes on time over the past few years. Another referenced a letter obtained by Concerned Citizens of Montour County, where O’Neill allegedly called community appeals on data center projects “frivolous.” The Local has reached out to O’Neill and Campbell for comment.

Orville Robinson of Steamfitters Local 420, a labor union that specializes in construction and maintenance, told CBS News that he supports the project.

“I’ve worked on a lot of these projects,” he said. “This is going to put a lot of hours into our local union. It’s going to keep our members working, provide for their families.”

Hyperscale data center proposals are emerging across Pennsylvania, including along the Schuylkill River in the southeastern region. The Schuylkill River provides water to more than two million people in Philadelphia. Gov. Josh Shapiro, a supporter of artificial intelligence, announced last Wednesday that data centers must meet certain criteria, called the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) Standards, to qualify for a state fast track permitting program and to become eligible for tax benefits. Developers must commit to standards on energy affordability, transparency, community engagement, economic development and environmental protection.

Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at abby@chestnuthilllocal.com.