By Carlton Veirs

Not every detail is settled, but all of the permits required to install the 37-mile-long pipe that would carry wastewater from the Memphis Megasite’s eventual mega-manufacturer to the Mississippi River have been issued. Tennessee’s Commissioner of Economic and Community Development Bob Rolfe delivered the news to the Memphis Megasite Authority Monday during a meeting in Jackson.

“The final permits have been signed,” Rolfe said. The licenses were issued by the Corp of Engineers and the state’s department of environment. The last of the permits were issued last week allowing the outfall to be located in Tipton County near the river’s mile marker 768.

“It’s our final gating item,” Rolfe proclaimed. It means, he believes, that there are no significant barriers that might stop a prospect from giving the site serious considerations. Several earlier prospects, including, reportedly, Toyota, passed because they didn’t know if the regulatory, legal and infrastructure funding was available. Rolfe says those days are over.

Still, there are things to do. While dozens of landowners sold state government the easements allowing the pipe to cross underneath their properties, Rolfe said, “Twenty families decided not to participate.” The state attorney general’s office is expected to file lawsuits against the landowners asking for imminent domain. Legal experts say the wrangle will almost certainly end quickly in the state’s favor.

“We are getting in position to start construction…by the end of the year,” Rolfe said. He expects bids to be let this fall. Monday, officials didn’t talk about the construction of the wastewater treatment plant planned for the campus of the megasite, except to say the water will be treated there before it is piped. Funding for the treatment facility has already been appropriated.

Rolfe says once a factory has chosen the site, it would take 18 to 24 months to build, more than enough time for the water system to be in place by the time production starts.
The state is also “navigating the the utility strategy for the site.”

Still — there are things …

Making sure a new employer can find workers to fill its jobs is critical, Assistant Commissioner Allen Borden told the group.

“We are looking at creative ways we can demonstrate to companies that we can deliver the numbers of skilled workers when they need them,” Borden said. “Even if you are shovel ready, if you can’t deliver a workforce, you’ve got a problem.”

The state continues to concentrate on OEM manufacturing. That’s likely to require thousands of skilled workers.

“We have to be very nimble and move quickly…” to fill the prospect’s needs, Borden said. Commissioner Rolfe says the state is willing to roll out the red-workforce-carpet which likely means funding a training facility that can be built on the megasite campus.

The megasite emergency services facility could go up soon, too. The state will spend about $2 million on the building and some equipment. Designers say the plan meets regulatory approval and construction bids will be opened in early August. The construction will be funded by the state, but the operational expense will fall on the shoulders of Haywood County taxpayer. So far, county officials have provided no estimates of annual cost.

Don’t want just anybody

Borden said the state’s recruiters have turned down some prospects that wanted to take a look.

“The state requires they pay a good wage and fair benefits…and if they push back (on that) we see red flags…. You won’t pay less than fair and get a good workforce…” Borden says.

The state’s sales force has shown the 4100-acre tract to a prospect recently. “There was a site visit,” Borden said, but he did not elaborate.

Competition, he says, from other megasites in the southeast is “about the same” as in the past, except that the Huntsville megasite is “full” with a deal made with Toyota and Mazda.

Tennessee has landed two manufacturers ancillary to the Alabama industrial complex that’s located just south of the Tennessee border near the Tennessee River.

What about Stanton?

State Representative Johnny Shaw asked leaders if there is consideration being given to sprucing up Stanton, the closest incorporated town to the site.

Stanton Mayor Allen Sterbinsky said he wants to rebound Stanton’s small downtown area to its “glory days,” hoping to return with historically accurate structures. Most of the classic store buildings have been lost to age and bad economic times. Sterbinsky says he is pleading for money to improve roads and “rebuild downtown.”

While Stanton is tiny even compared to Spring Hill Tennessee, Commissioner Rolfe pointed out that Spring Hill, the home of a General Motors plant, grew from 4,500 residents to more than 40,000 because of industrial growth.

State officials have regularly called the eventual development of the megasite as “transformational” for West Tennessee.

(PHOTO: Bob Rolfe, Tennessee’s Economic and Community Development Commissioner, updates the Southwest Tennessee Development District on the Megasite – courtesy Carlton Veirs, Brownsville Press)

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