On the evening of August 4th, developer Brian O’Neill released an economic impact study meant to showcase the economic benefits of allowing a proposed data center to move forward at 900 Conshohocken Road in Conshohocken (Plymouth Township). The project is currently moving through the special exception process before Plymouth Township’s zoning hearing board. The next hearing date is August 6th at 7:00 p.m. at Colonial Middle School.

While the study is purported to be an “independent economic and fiscal impact analysis,” it was prepared by 4ward Planning on behalf of 900 Conshohocken Road, LLC, the entity associated with O’Neill that is seeking approval for the data center. In the press release released with the study, O’Neill claims that “converting the vacant 1.95 million-square-foot dormant mill site into a data center would generate $424 million in new tax revenue over 20 years, with the majority flowing directly into Colonial School District classrooms. Blocking the project keeps that revenue at zero.”

So while reading the study, note that O’Neill funded the study and MoreThanTheCurve.com hasn’t vetted the numbers (we just got it tonight). Since it will likely be presented at the hearing, we wanted to share it with the public so it can digest it and decide whether to support or challenge the study’s findings.

You can read the study here. You can read the accompanying press release here.