The site
Pennhurst State School and Hospital in East Vincent Township, Chester County, operated from 1908 to 1987 as an institution for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It became nationally known for horrific conditions documented in a landmark 1968 expose and a federal lawsuit that helped establish the right to community-based care.
The sprawling brownfield campus has sat largely vacant for decades. Now a developer wants to turn it into a data center.
The planning commission says no
The East Vincent Township Planning Commission voted unanimously in February 2026 to recommend denial, calling the plan technically deficient and not in compliance with the zoning ordinance. Commissioners cited concerns about the scale of the project, its impact on local infrastructure, and the lack of adequate environmental review for a known contaminated site. However, this is only a recommendation -- the Board of Supervisors makes the final decision.
In December 2025, the Board of Supervisors had scrapped a draft ordinance that would have imposed restrictions on data center construction, which allowed the project to proceed to the conditional use hearing stage.
The last-minute resubmission
Despite the denial, the developer submitted revised plans expanding from 1.3 million to 1.9 million square feet, and adding at least 10 acres of gas-powered generators along the Schuylkill River plus battery storage -- just one full business day before the scheduled March 16 conditional use hearing. Residents saw this as an end-run around the planning commission's decision, compressing the public's ability to review dramatically expanded plans.
The March 16 hearing was postponed due to severe weather. It has been rescheduled for April 20 at East Vincent Elementary School.
What is at stake
Pennhurst is a site of historical trauma. For many disability rights advocates, it is hallowed ground -- the place where the modern deinstitutionalization movement began. The proposal to build a data center there, with minimal public process and a developer willing to circumvent a unanimous denial, has galvanized an unusual coalition of preservationists, disability advocates, and environmental groups.