In Watford City alone, 2,400 apartment units by spring, possibly tripling the census population.
http://www.watfordcitynd.com/?id=10&nid=1660
During Monday night’s meeting the council approved zoning changes, annexations and subdivision plats affecting over 725 acres of land that are located within the city’s extraterritorial zoning area (ETA).
One of the first new commercial developments, according to Moen, could be the South Park project, which is located at the junction of Highway 85 and the Highway 23 Bypass.
If you go back about a month into the archives on that website, you will see that the city is talking about planning to accommodate around 15,000 permanent residents.
ReplyDeleteIf that happens, that would amount to about a 9-fold increase over the 2010 population and leave Watford City comparable in size to Jamestown (ND) today.
I find this incredible.
DeleteOne really has to wonder how this boom compares to previous events like the California gold rush or the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889.
Two points:
a) it's even more remarkable considering this is taking place in the 5th year of the North Dakota Bakken boom; and,
b) the activity in 2012 is moving to the Watford City area, which explains much of this.
They are talking Watford 15,000, Sidney 10,000 or more, Tioga-Ray 10,000 and Williston 50,000-100,000 people....the MonDak region could become a pretty significant population center if it really happens. They are talking 25,000 housing units needed in Williston over the next 10 years (according to the Bakken Housing Summit)? That could easily put Williston at 100,000 or more and you add in the surrounding communities? We could be shopping at a Super-walmart or Target in Watford, Sidney or Tioga one day??? You never know?
DeleteWow, that's spooky. Your comment arrived just after I posted the most recent comment at this post:
Deletehttp://milliondollarway.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-important-was-bakken.html?showComment=1337660238865#c1568386365595239418
Six months ago I would have said we were both nuts, but I'm beginning to wonder.