Dyer Industrial Park could earn state certification by May
By Steve Short
The City of Dyer could take a big step toward landing an industrial prospect after May of this year.
The city’s Industrial Park is undergoing the process of being designated as a Select Tennessee Certified Site, an attractive enticement for industry or business looking for a location.
Kingsley Brock, the Gibson County Director of Economic Development, spoke to county commissioners in Trenton Jan. 14, providing an update on Dyer’s pursuit of the state designation.
“I’m working with Commissioner (Nathan) Reed on the Dyer Select Tennessee Site Certification process,” said Brock. “We have about a 38-acre site in the Dyer Industrial Park. We’re going through the Select Tennessee certification process.
“Phase One was initiated based on an environmental study,” said Brock. “That will be completed in the next couple of weeks, and then we’ll start to do the archaeological and some other studies. So, we’re well underway in the certification process.”
The Select Tennessee Certified Sites Program was developed as a rigorous process aimed at elevating Tennessee’s sites to the level of preparedness necessary for corporate investment, according to the state. The program will market the sites to a targeted group of site selection consultants and business leaders in Tennessee’s key industry clusters.
To be classified as a Select Tennessee Certified Site, locations must have a minimum of 20 developable acres, utilities on site or a formal extension plan in place, a boundary survey and topographic maps completed, documented environmental conditions and geotechnical analysis, minimized risk factors for development, and certification by the Austin Consulting firm.
“It’s kind of a time-consuming thing with a lot of paperwork and a lot of ‘I’s’ to dot and ‘T’s’ to cross,” said Brock. “So it’s about a four to five month process. Hopefully we can get (the Dyer site) certified, say by May.”
Gibson Co. has just two other Select Tennessee Certified Sites, according to the state webpage: the county 100-acre Industrial Park south site in Humboldt and Milan’s 40-acre Industrial Park.
Four other state certified sites are in the region in Dresden, Brownsville and Jackson (two locations).
