Wamsutter officials see need for infrastructure, sense opportunity for sustained growth

As a stable community for the long term, just how big can Wamsutter be?

"I'm not on the 5,000 people side. I'm more on the 2,500 people side," says Gary Waldner, a local developer. He is part of the Wamsutter clan that includes Ken Waldner, the mayor, and longtime residents Verne and Emma Waldner.

Such growth in a town of perhaps 500 residents assumes many things, not least of which is the provision of more and better housing.

Waldner sees housing as a problem with a stepwise solution.

Today, trailers and RVs predominate. Waldner rents trailers, but is now building apartments. Next will come duplexes, and last, perhaps, single-family homes.

In view of the state's history, he and brother Ken are proceeding with caution. "We're trying to keep it small enough that if everything dried up overnight, we wouldn't be stuck with a huge payment."

Accordingly, as one project is completed and generates cash-flow, the Waldners will consider the next phase.

Another developer, Larry Miller, recently asked the town council for an extension on an agreement that originally called for eight homes by the end of the year. Two have been built.

"We were getting a lot of feedback from companies that needed rentals now and more single-family units in the future," said Community Development Coordinator Lisa Colson said. So this is a period of re-evaluation.

At the root of new population growth, there may be a deeper issue than housing, both literally and figuratively.

Wamsutter can expand at its edges, in areas where no sewer and water pipes currently exists, or to which access is inadequate.

"It's not so much the housing situation as the lack of infrastructure," said Colson.

To provide the necessary pipes and lines, the town has considered whether to take a more active role. It might be able to obtain state money for infrastructure, which the town would then own.

Colson said such improvements would benefit the whole town, while providing developers with an assist in new housing projects.

Waldner has a subdivision platted for 30 lots. If he puts in infrastructure, cost of the lots will rise to $90,000.

Waldner could more easily put in 90 trailer spaces on the same land and probably rent them quickly. But that wouldn't contribute to social stability.

"We're trying to put in structures in the town that don't have wheels, that don't leave when the boom is gone," he said. "We're trying to put stuff in the ground that isn't going away."

Permanent structures also would help create a stronger local tax base than trailers.

In addition to housing, Waldner thinks a grocery store is pivotal. It would serve as a point around which other much-desired services, like a bank, could coalesce.

The Wyoming Business Council board Thursday recommended that Wamsutter receive a $1,327,500 grant to construct a commercial building, with donations and in-kind matches of $247,500. The building is intended to house a grocery store, bank and Laundromat. If approved by the State Loan and Investment Board, the building could be completed next summer.

"If we would have had a building, we would have had a grocery store and bank over a year ago," Colson said earlier. "We're not building a structure and hoping they will come; we're building a structure because we're already working on commitments from people."

Two new hotels also are on the horizon, she added.

Wamsutter is engaged in a kind of rural renewal project, scraping away junk and dilapidation that has accumulated since the last boom went bust.

The town council approved a building code. Trailers more than 10 years old can remain. But if such a unit is removed, its replacement must be newer than 10 years old. If a trailer is removed from an area no longer zoned for trailers, no replacement need apply. Eventually, the town may hire an inspector to enforce the code, but Colson said a public works director will come first.

Waldner sees maintenance of the thousands of wells and associated pipelines as a source of stable employment for many years.

Much overshadowed by the natural gas activity, he also thinks some economic activities in Wamsutter contain the seeds for diversification. UPS drivers on Interstate 80 swap loads in Wamsutter; wind turbines are springing up across Carbon County.

But to cement population gains, Waldner thinks the town must act now, while workers are coming in large numbers and weighing where to settle.

"If you're going to get somebody who decides this is the place to be, right now there's not anything for them to buy," he said.

There is no chicken-or-egg riddle, whether to build so people will come, or wait for people to come before building.

In Wamsutter, it's all occurring at once.

Reach business editor Tom Mast at (307) 266-0574 or tom.mast@trib.com