A neighbor of a parcel in New York State that Verizon is considering as a potential site for a future data center has filed a lawsuit, accusing local and state officials of cutting corners at the expense of due regulatory process in rushing through a series of approvals and in allowing for tax exemptions for the project.

The lawsuit, filed with the state supreme court by an attorney on behalf of Mary Rizzo (owner of the neighboring property) against Verizon and a number of local, county and state bodies and agencies, charges that "government officials have engaged in a stampede of approvals in the hopes of luring a massive data center to the Town of Somerset in rural Niagara County, circumventing laws meant to ensure thoughtful and appropriate planning decisions and the preservation of our environment."

According to Buffalo News, the proposed one-million-sq-ft project in the City of Somerset would receive the largest public subsidy any business would ever have received in Western New York. Construction of the data center would also be the largest project to take place in the county since the construction of a nearby hydroelectric plant in the late 1950's.

The lawsuit challenges a number of approvals the project has received, including the city's decision to rezone about 180 acres of land while allegedly circumventing the process prescribed for such actions by the state's environmental-quality laws. The complaint also challenges approval by the state's energy regulators of allocation of 25MW of power from the aforementioned hydroelectric plant, approval of Verizon's site plan, which allegedly does not comply with the city's zoning laws, and several other approvals.

In addition, the lawsuit challenges the November decision by a local industrial development agency to give Verizon financial assistance in the project, including a sales-tax exemption for a number of expenses associated with the construction project as well as a partial abatement of property tax.