Business owners along Sheep Davis Road in Pembroke can’t make heads or tails of a proposed $38 million National Guard training facility slated for a 214-acre tract on Riverwood Drive.

Some have not even heard of the project; others are indifferent.

A few think the proposal will stimulate the local economy; others are citing potential drawbacks.

Holly Manning, owner of Serendipity Day Spa, whose business is located less than a mile from the proposed facility, has concerns about potential noise problems, but said she has not done enough research on the project to develop a firm opinion. Mike Gove of Pembroke Automotive, also on Route 106 near the proposed training facility is not familiar with the project but can foresee one potential negative impact.

“The only thing I could see happening is it’s a sizeable tax base we’re going to be losing,” Gove said.

That’s the same concern that the Pembroke Board of Selectmen share, said Town Administrator David Jodoin.

“With all the cuts they’re looking at making toward the towns … the selectmen wonder where the state can come up with $3 million,” Jodoin said.

The state government will cover the cost to purchase the privately owned property, approximately $3 million, later this year through a capital appropriation. The cost to build the facility, which will include about 107,000 square feet of instructional space, administrative offices and student barracks, is estimated at $38 million and will be paid for by the federal government.

There is at least one Pembroke business owner who is all for the project – Bert Whittemore of Riverwood Properties, who owns the property the National Guard is seeking to purchase.

“I think it’s a great use for the property,” said Whittemore, also a Pembroke resident. “I can’t think of a town that wouldn’t want an Army facility, but I recognize I’m only one citizen and other people have other views.”

Whittemore’s father first begin purchasing tracts of the parcel over 60 years ago, he said.

“This (project) has been studied to beat the band,” he said, recognizing the business transaction is not a done deal. “This is a tumultuous time and I don’t count my chickens when they’re not even in the yard.”

The New Hampshire National Guard recently published an environmental impact study and opened a period of public comment on the proposal for the Pembroke training facility.

Normand Provencher, the business manager of Pembroke Water Works, said any concerns the Water Department had about the project were eased in that report.

“We have a well which will abut their property, as well as two other wells downstream from them,” Provencher said. “At the time, originally, they were going to have artillery that was going to be used at the site. They were going to be using hand grenades which would emit carcinogens in the ground. We also didn’t want them tearing up the terrain, which would also alter the protection of the groundwater.”

But after a meeting with town officials and representatives from the Guard, Provencher said those fears have been addressed.

An environmental impact study, released earlier this month, indicates that the proposed building will have “no significant environmental effects.”

Col. Jeff Vorce, project manager for the National Guard facility, said no artillery will be used on the training site.

“There is a misnomer that we were going to have a live fire range out there,” Vorce said. “That was never planned; this land is too small for a live fire range.”

To further ease concerns, the town’s wastewater department has allocated adequate capacity for the proposed training facility, which will allow the new facility to tie into the town’s sewer system, preventing the necessity of building an on-site septic system, which could have also compromised groundwater resources, Provencher said.

Vorce said he hopes the property can be purchased by October in order to proceed with design plans. Construction will begin in spring 2011, he said.