Newsworks has a post on an upcoming public meeting to review plans for a 248 MW natural gas plant.

“Initially we received a lot of pushback from city officials that they were not going to have a public meeting until final plans had been submitted to the city. And clearly, if final plans are submitted where is there opportunity for the public, or neighbors, to have a voice in shaping those plans,” asked Amy Roe, an activist with the Sierra Club here in Delaware.

Roe says it's hard to say if plans for the data center are objectionable because very little information has been made publicly available, but "it’s the power plant that’s causing concern.”

The data center company and local government look like they were trying to sneak something by the public.

Those concerns were magnified, Roe says, by the city's seeming lack of transparency throughout this entire process.

“I’m worried about the silence from the city on this project," Roe said. “To learn that your town government has been negotiating for a year for this and none of the neighbors know is very worrisome.”

Newark's Community Affairs Officer Dana Johnston says the city has nothing to share since plans have not been officially submitted. Johnston says the city is simply providing publicity and a space for Tuesday's meeting, where TDC will provide more substantive answers.

Emails sent to TDC asking how much the proposed project will cost and when final plans will be submitted have yet to be returned.

I guess this is a big enough deal because on the web site http://www.cityofnewarkde.us is this notice.