While the numbers are dazzling enough - one of the largest economic development projects in Alabama's history - it's expected that those numbers will grow even larger.

Maybe even quadruple, according to Huntsville city councilwoman Jennie Robinson.

As Toyota-Mazda announced Wednesday that it would build a $1.6 billion plant in Huntsville that will eventually create 4,000 jobs, the multiplier factor will cause that number of jobs to swell significantly.

"I think they said the multiplier effect was 4, so it's potentially 16,000 (jobs)," Robinson said. "Which nobody has said that because it's hard to judge that. But somebody has to provide all the little doo-dads that go into building the Corolla. They're not going ot be shipping those."

It's long been expected that wherever Toyota-Mazda decided to land, it would be a Pied Piper of sorts for additional jobs through suppliers and other direct and indirect services.

And according to Huntsville city planner Dennis Madsen, the rural Limestone County location where the plant will be built - which is largely nothing but thousands of acres of farmland - will need basic services as well. Somewhere to eat lunch, somewhere to shop - a mini-community of itself to sustain 4,000 workers (or as many as 16,000).

"We've been out with our glove just waiting for the ball to land," Madsen said of the preparation and planning Huntsville has done for just such an economic windfall.

Huntsville plans to include recreational facilities and greenways as part of its infrastructure package for Toyota-Mazda.

"One thing that can be forgotten when you have these new areas is making sure there are quality of life aspects," Madsen said in a blog post on the city's website. "Our plan has some areas that are designated for greenways and parks. You have to have those amenities."

Gary Bolton, chair of the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce executive board, said that generally such projects might have a jobs multiplier of 2.5 to 2.7. That would still push the project altogether over 10,000 jobs.

"Any time that you have a big influx of employment - especially the high-quality employment - you start to see that there are more people shopping in retail, more people staying in hotels, more people staying in restaurants, more people buying automobiles," Bolton said. "We've been very fortunate that our community leaders have got out ahead of our infrastructure and make sure our region can support this kind of growth.

"This is not something that just kind of happens recently. This is something our community leaders and the chamber has been working on for years to make sure we are well-positioned. There's a lot of planning that went into being able to provide the (TVA) megasite (where the plant will be located) and get that ready and provide options on that property and really put Huntsville in position to win."

A recent study commissioned by the city of Huntsville found that it could accommodate 7,000 additional advanced manufacturing jobs through 2022, which officials interpreted to mean that it could insert the Toyota-Mazda plant into the economy without negatively affecting other industry.