Clifton Township supervisors approve settlement with developer over contested data center

The Clifton Township Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Jan. 2 to accept a settlement with 1778 Rich Pike LLC & JCO LLC resolving a zoning dispute over a proposed data center, Chair Jill Zindle announced after the vote. The board entered an executive session for pending litigation at 8:30 p.m., reconvened at 8:40 p.m., and then approved the settlement by motion; Vice Chair Theodore Stout seconded the motion and the vote was recorded as unanimous.

Township Solicitor Geoffrey Worthington said the agreement confines the project's zoning footprint to industrial zones and does not circumvent the township's land development review process. Worthington told the meeting the settlement is intended to reduce the risk of a court outcome that would completely remove municipal oversight. The acceptance followed more than an hour of public comment raising procedural and environmental concerns and a notice from Pocono Heritage Land Trust that it would seek legal action if the board approved the agreement.