Hobet Mine Site 'Poised' for Transformation into Rock Creek Development Park

About a year after Gov. Tomblin announced he would spend his last year in office focused on an economic development project on a former mountaintop removal mine site, the project itself has its first investor and a new name.

Tomblin announced in a press conference at the Capitol Thursday that the former Hobet mine site would become the Rock Creek Development Park.

The “seed project” for the site, as he called it, is a three-part investment of the West Virginia National Guard. 

The Guard will use a portion of the 12,000 acre site in Boone County to expand its training operations for members from across the state. The group will also utilizes some of the land for an agriculture project that will include apple orchards and greenhouses.

The third portion of the Guard investment is an expansion of their national maintenance support facility, something West Virginia Adjutant Gen. James Hoyer said will make the West Virginia Guard “exceptionally competitive” in the Department of Defense for future projects.

The National Guard programs will initially bring 8 new jobs to the site with more in the future.

Tomblin said Thursday the Rock Creek Development Park could become a hub for industrial, commercial, and residential development in southern West Virginia.