WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners hope their unanimous vote to approve a 10-year, 60% tax abatement for a proposed Kimberly-Clark manufacturing facility expected to be built on the former RG Steel property in Warren and Howland townships will be the first of many that will revitalize Trumbull County and surrounding communities.

The up to $875 million project includes a 1,157,261-square-foot facility that will house a warehouse and office space for manufacturing various consumer hygiene paper products. It still must be approved by Kimberly-Clark’s board of directors.

“I’m very confident this will come to fruition,” Commission President Rick Hernandez said. “What will happen around that facility is other companies — boxing companies, cardboard companies and distribution companies.”

“The economy will definitely see an uptick because you’ll see people shopping, housing will take off, our building trades will be employing more people and contractors will be in a position that there will be so much work here,” he said.

Commissioner Denny Malloy said the opening of Kimberly-Clark will change the face of Trumbull County in much the same way as when General Motors built its former plant in Lordstown.

“When General Motors was here, there was Lear Seating, Packard Electric and others that opened to support it,” Malloy said. “There are other businesses looking to come to the Mahoning Valley.”

Commissioner Tony Bernard said Kimberly-Clark’s move to Trumbull County will have no boundaries in terms of economic development if the project comes to fruition.

“This will produce jobs, produce housing and economic development,” Bernard said. “We need to thank the Port Authority, our local planning commission, Howland and Warren Township trustees, Warren city and our state representatives.”

State Rep. Nick Santucci, R-Niles, helped secure a $17 million grant that will help to improve the road for the trucks going in and out of the plant, Bernard said.

“They are talking about 300 to 400 trucks a day traveling to the plant,” Bernard said. “This brings families in. We will have to provide housing for those families. There will be a much larger economic impact than simply those jobs on the plant grounds.”

Charles Smith, director of capital projects of Kimberly-Clark, said it could take up to six months for this proposal to be presented to the company’s board of directors. The timeline for the new facility after the board’s approval is unknown.

Work to get this far has been happening for several years, with the company doing its due diligence, acquiring and improving the site and working in a low-key manner.

“We have felt welcomed and very impressed with the community,” Smith said. “We expect this incentive will help the financial case for this proposal.”

Approximately 75% of the proposed facility will be in Howland and 25% will be in

Warren Township. The company already has purchased the land.

If approved, Trumbull County will have the only Kimberly-Clark facility in Ohio.

Kimberly-Clark is a Fortune 500 paper products producer headquartered in Dallas with operations in 33 countries.

It produces a variety of brands, including Huggies, Kleenex, Depends, Poise, Cottonelle, Scott, Viva and other products. It sells products in 70 countries.

Warren resident Paul Yannucci, 75, who spoke in support of the tax abatement, said its facilities are extremely clean and run in a professional manner.

“There was a time when I was growing up when there were more than 80,000 people living in Warren,” he said. “Now there is less than half that amount. Opportunities like this may help to bring back those numbers.”

Shawn Shook, a Warren Township resident, suggested township trustees did not provide proper 24-hour notification to residents that they were going to vote on approving the tax abatement.

Malloy said the township did provide notification to the public about the tax abatement vote.

“I am for Kimberly-Clark, but I believe Warren Township’s vote for the tax abatement was not done properly,” Shook said.