Philadelphia Mayor Creates Data Center Task Force Amid Protests

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker has launched a task force to evaluate the potential impact of hyperscale data centers in the city, responding to growing public opposition while declining to impose a construction moratorium.

The move comes after approximately 100 protesters gathered outside City Hall on September 14, demanding that city officials halt data center development. An online petition calling for a pause on new facilities has collected more than 2,600 signatures.

What the task force will do

Parker's executive order, signed September 15, creates the Philadelphia Data Center Task Force to examine the pros and cons of hyperscale data centers and deliver findings and recommendations by June 30, 2027. The order does not prevent companies from applying to build such facilities in the interim.

"If a firm were to apply to the city of Philadelphia to build one of these hyperscale data centers, we want to make sure that we are fully prepared to know what the impact on Philadelphians would be," Parker said in an announcement video.

Philadelphia currently has no local zoning laws or regulations governing data center development. City Council President Kenyatta Johnson has not committed to supporting a moratorium, with his office stating that council members are continuing discussions on the issue.

The data center landscape in Philadelphia

Philadelphia has operated smaller data centers for years, but no hyperscale facilities—those exceeding 60,000 square feet and housing thousands of servers—currently exist within city limits. City officials have identified two potential sites that could accommodate such development: a city-owned property near Northeast Philadelphia Airport and the former PES refinery site in the Bellwether District. No proposals have been submitted for either location.

Hyperscale data centers support cloud computing and artificial intelligence applications but require substantial energy and water resources. Proposals for such facilities have emerged in Philadelphia's surrounding counties, New Jersey, and Delaware.

Why it matters

The tension in Philadelphia reflects a national shift in public sentiment toward AI infrastructure. A University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Policy Center survey conducted from June to July 2026 found that 61% of U.S. adults oppose new data center construction in their areas—a 12 percentage point increase from earlier in the year. Two-thirds of respondents in both survey periods said the government has done too little to regulate AI.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order in August establishing stricter requirements for data center development statewide, though it also stopped short of imposing a moratorium. The economic benefits of hosting hyperscale facilities—including job creation and tax revenue—must be weighed against environmental impacts and strain on local infrastructure, a calculation Philadelphia's task force will now undertake over the next nine months.

These details were first reported by Billy Penn.