Anxieties have been rising in Springdale as the borough north of Pittsburgh debates whether to welcome a data center to the site of a former coal-fired power plant.

The borough council plans to make a decision at its Dec. 16 meeting, after collecting hours worth of evidence from Allegheny DC Property Company, which hopes to build the data center.

Allegheny DC has already bought the property where the former Cheswick Generating Station sat. County records show the sale closed on Nov. 19, two days after the borough’s planning commission voted to recommend the borough council approve a conditional use permit for the site.

The planned 565,000-square-foot building could be about seven stories tall, including cooling equipment on the roof. It could demand as much power at one time as more than 140,000 homes.

Since the permit application was filed in August, people in town have been looking for answers about their potential new neighbor, and in some cases, trying to stop it from moving forward.

More than 75 people packed into the main dining room of the From Italy restaurant in mid-November to hear a presentation from environmental group Protect PT on data centers. Members of the group filled a white board with questions from the audience on topics ranging from water use and noise to other potential uses for the site.

Restaurant owner Chuck Cickavage said he jumped at the chance to host the town hall, since his schedule doesn’t allow him to go to many borough meetings.

He’s concerned the huge draw of power to the site will mean more power outages for the rest of town, affecting small businesses like his.

Cickavage’s pizza shop has its own generator, but it still had to close for a week earlier this year when a big storm knocked out power in the region. He said insurance only pays a percentage of lost revenue during such events.

Cickavage also lives one block from the former power plant. He bought his house in the late 80s, when he said the noise from the plant was occasional.