Ron Key

DUNLAP, Tenn. — City officials are seeking a $210,000 grant to help woo Volkswagen suppliers and others with improvements to the local industrial park.

Gov. Phil Bredesen has recommended an Appalachian Regional Commission grant that could help pay about half the cost of a replacement sewage pump station at the industrial park, Dunlap Field Superintendent Clayton Smith said.

The city has not discussed ways to finance the rest of the estimated $440,000 project cost, he said.

Of the park’s two sewer stations, he said, the oldest was built in 1976.

The aging system serves two prime industrial properties that officials hope will attract tier 2 or 3 Volkswagen suppliers. One property is the former Tecumseh Power operation that closed this spring and the other is Seymour Tubing, slated to close this summer.

Consolidated Technologies Inc. in Chattanooga is the consulting engineer on the project. CTI engineer Ron Key said the city stands a “good chance” of getting the ARC grant, since Gov. Bredesen approved the preliminary application.

“It’s a two-step process,” Mr. Key said. “The next step is the final application and that will be presented before June 1.”

The sewer pump station’s mechanical equipment has about a 20-year life expectancy. Even with upgrades in the late 1980s, the station is still well beyond its useful years, Mr. Key said.

Industries such as those in Dunlap’s industrial park don’t put the same pressures on pump stations that residential sewage does, but they need reliable capacity, he said. Old equipment is inefficient and breaks down more often, he said.