MARTINSBURG, W.Va.–A public hearing on Procter & Gamble’s plans to construct its $500 million manufacturing plant in Berkeley County takes place Monday night.
The hearing will offer the Berkeley County Planning Commission its initial review of the preliminary plan filed last month.
According to those plans, there are two phases of construction that will involve extensive changes to the area and roadways to accommodate the more than 4-million-square-foot manufacturing plant on 458 acres in the Tabler Station Business Park.
Executive Director of the Berkeley County Economic Development Authority Steven Christian said the economic impact is already being felt across the entire valley.
“It was inevitable that we would get lots of prospects activity and it will continue for years to come. It will be the gift that keeps on giving,” Christian predicted. “It will create its own economic solar system. I mean Tabler Station interchange, 10 years from now, is going to look like a city.”
Christian said most people cannot comprehend the long term economic impact the facility will have on the area.
The company announced in February that it had chosen the Berkeley County site along Interstate 81 over 40 other potential sites in several states.
Christian said there will be an opportunity for public comment on Monday, but he does not anticipate anything negative being said.
The company will likely break ground on the facility sometime this fall.