It's a ratio of 10-1.
According to an ongoing engineering study, 1,400 acres that Rostraver Township officials are looking to develop could provide the space for more than 14,000 jobs.
Greg W. Banner, an engineer with TriLine Associates Inc., the Canonsburg firm working on the project plan, presented that number to the township commissioners Monday.
The project, commonly called "Rostraver Southpointe," has not been given an official name. Through it, two tracts of land -- 500 acres and 900 acres -- located near the interchange of Route 201 and Interstate 70 would be transformed into a mixture of commercial, industrial and residential property.
The larger tract could play host to nearly 8,000 jobs, Banner said. On the smaller one, there could be up to 6,500 people working.
After accounting for the space needed for the jobs, the 1,400 acres in question would still have enough room for almost 400 single-family homes and more than 200 townhouses, Banner said.
The figures are all subject to change, though, because of a multitude of variables.
"This is a conceptual picture of what could be done in a certain space," Banner said, adding that the businesses all will have different needs and those building homes may want more than one lot.
The estimates are based on square footage. For every industrial employee, Banner said he set aside 1,000 square feet. For every business employee, heset aside 400 square feet. Three-quarters of an acre was set aside for every single-family dwelling, he said.
The firm is trying to determine what types of business and industry are interested in moving to the area. From there, Banner said, the estimated number of jobs can be refined.
"There's a lot of information here to digest," township Commissioner George Martin said after paging through the study results. "I think we need to spend a fair amount of time with this."
The commissioners agreed to look over the numbers and meet with Banner again at 5 p.m. Oct. 16 in the township building.
