The Jasper County Board of Supervisors and Jasper County Economic Development Corporation are working with the City of Newton and Newton Development Corporation to establish a new 400-acre industrial park on the northeast edge of Newton. The Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings on what’s being called Jasper Rail Park at 9 a.m. on Monday April 7th, and 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 22nd. For the past several years Executive Director of Jasper County Economic Development Corporation  Jeff Davidson has been pushing the county to create development ready sites.

“The thing we are trying to accomplish more than anything else is speed to market. We are not competitive right now. The longer a potential developer’s money is tied up, nothing is happening with that money, they are going to go somewhere else, where they can get into the ground faster.” 

Davidson says 249 acres will need to be purchased to go along with land Iowa Interstate Railroad owns to form the industrial park. The railroad and Alliant Energy are private partners in this project, and Davison says they will contribute financially to the development of the site just southeast of the TPI wind blade plant.