State and local leaders along with representatives from the Bluegrass Army Depot in Madison County, met today at the courthouse to discuss the future of the Depot.

"Opportunity is knocking. It's a distant, faint knock at the moment, but it is knocking. And when it comes to the door and knocks a little louder we want to be prepared to greet it with a thoughtful, and outstanding welcome. And that's what we're talking about today," said Craig Williams with the Chemical Destruction Community Advisory Board.

The Bluegrass Workforce Investment Board has received a $120,000 grant to launch phase one of a study that will answer this question, "With close to a billion dollars invested in infrastructure left behind and roughly 1000 highly trained workers potentially jobless when done, how can Kentucky capitalize on these resources, both structural and human, after the chemical weapons are gone?"

"This is the biggest economic development project that's ever come to Madison County. And when you think about future use, I don't want to just mitigate the loss of jobs out there, I want to expand. And I think we can," said one speaker.

Phase one will focus on job loss aversion. Phases two and three will look into things like the project's impact on housing, transportation, schools, local, state and sales tax revenues and potential re-uses for the facility itself.

While officials say the project completion date for the Chemical Weapons Disposal facility is around 2020, that construction is ahead of schedule.