By Brent Sanford Watford City Mayor, October 27, 2015

 1914 – The Beginning City platted at the end of the Great Northern rail line Lots sold and a town came out of the prairie  1940’s -- Post War Economy People began moving into town from the country  34% increase in population to 1,371 One could buy whatever you needed in Watford  1950’s -- Oil Boom I Discovery of oil brought oil families from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana Another 35% increase in population to 1,865  1980’s -- Oil Boom II Official population in 1980 at 2,119 Boom was handled with temporary facilities, trailer parks The late 80’s bust left the community with cheap industrial shops, vacated RV parks, outmigration and declining school enrollment

 The Bust – Late 80’s to Early 00’s The prairie was emptying from the mid 80’s to mid 00’s Watford City High School Class of 1995  Began with 95 Kindergarten students in 1983, graduated 41 Births in McKenzie County in the year 2000 were UNDER 10 Two homes constructed in town during this time period As local retailers, national franchises and vendors pulled out of the area, Watford City became a bedroom community Year 2000 Headcount -- 1,400 Population. Kindergarten class under 10 students. No Oil, no rail, no 4-lane, no manufacturing, no Ag Value- added… Where do we go from here??

 Economic Development – The Spark! Gene Veeder and Watford City had statewide recognized successes  Admiral Bill Owens /SAIC / CERA site  Telemarketing and remote computer programming centers  2000 Community Strategic Planning Session  The Goal was to make the community a great home for those who wanted to be here… so let’s invest in ourselves  Watford City Home rule charter: Roughrider Fund 1% community development sales tax and 2% Lodging Tax. To help choose our own destiny. Community projects completed in the “down times” for ourselves :  Hockey / Rodeo multi purpose building  Veterans Memorial Auditorium  Wild west water park and Children’s Park  Public Golf Course Clubhouse expansion  Long X Visitor Center  Watford City Housing Authority – 8 townhomes  LSS Housing – 24 units of affordable housing  Main Street Improvement project  Renaissance Zone -- Storefront improvement program

 The Bakken Oil Development – mid 00’s to 2009  The Bakken exploration had been finding it’s eventual edges in the 2000’s  Baker and Fairview, Montana in early 2000’s; Stanley and Parshall in Local officials “new it was coming”  McKenzie County had always been in the center of the Oil Basin  Landmen swarmed our courthouse in the mid 2000’s  County had oil production since the 50’s  But the housing and retail developers did not believe the market potential of Watford City  Local high school graduates began moving back to Watford City  Oil jobs were coming back to western ND  College educated WCHS grads moved home buying businesses or working in Utility, Government or Education fields.  Class sizes moving back into the range.  Housing was no longer cheap or available Then the Bakken Arrived in late 2009 No one could have known how much was coming

 Community Planning – 2010 era – Employment Boom Drilling rigs began moving in at higher levels in 2010 Skid shacks and RV’s began showing up in Watford City by the dozens for the drilling industry employees City Engineer devised a system of Temporary Conditional Use Permits with annual reviews to allow zoning variances for property owners providing parking spots for the inflow of temporary housing units US Census counted 1,744 people in (This sets a lot of fed and state funding.) Community leaders began strategy formulation  Do we want to handle the influx of people with mobile homes and campers and food trucks, then simply watch them drive away when drilling tapers off?  And be left with nothing like the 80’s?  Or…Do we want to meet the opportunity presented by the Bakken drilling plans head on?  And only allow permanent building projects so we are left with a better city?  We chose the latter. The City began our Capital Improvement Plan in 2010.

 Community Infrastructure Planning– City Council Hired AE2S as City Engineer  Formulated a 5 year Capital Improvements Plan to identify and prioritize the infrastructure needed to handle the potential growth in identified growth areas  State funded sewer and water trunklines in 2011 legislative session  Developers swarmed into town City Council Hired Curt Moen as City Planner  WCHS graduate in 1985 with community planning and developing experience in the Las Vegas area  He is the catalyst behind what you see for new building around the former city limits City Council moratorium on Temporary Housing NDSU / KLJ Industry Impacts Study  Projects the need for housing 17,000-21,000 permanent population based on the long term jobs resulting from Bakken well projections  Available housing units needed to grow from less than 1,000 to 10,000 units, based on the Study

Population Potential, by County, Medium Scenario, Williston Region,

Housing Needs by County, in Total Units, Medium Scenario, Williston Region,

Current Status  Watford City has a current estimate of 2,500 permanent units completed  11,000 permanent units needed according to KLJ/NDSU study  Estimated current area population of 10-12,000 with over 7,000 estimated to be living in temporary accommodations  So we are still far behind the needed amount of permanent housing units  New Sewer Plant with 7,500 pop. capacity is full… before opening  Rents are $1,500-3,000 for 2 bedroom apartments  House rents went from $250 up to $5,000/month  House sales from $40,000 up to $350,000 on for same house 5 years later  Single Family home development has been slow to ramp up.  Projections say that we will need 5,000+ single family homes  Have completed less than 100 single family homes to date… WHY? Infrastructure Deficiency has been THE central challenge

 Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure -- As our growth needs became apparent, the reality of the infrastructure deficiency set in.  Highways, Streets, Sewer and Water for 1,500 population footprint  All were vintage in need of replacement Infrastructure Needed:  New Sewer/Water Systems, New Streets – current City plan is over $340 million  Water Source – WAWS (completed)  New Hospital – under construction  New Schools – High School under construction, Elem School in planning  New Jail and LEC – under construction  New Park and Rec facilities – Events Center under construction  Highway Bypass - completed  A NEW COMMUNITY FOR 10,000+ BUILT AROUND THE OLD CITY How do you fund infrastructure to expand a City from 1,500 to 15,000? ANSWER – Community borrowing, State support, Developers self funding

 Community Borrowing - $350+ million High School $54 million Community Events Center $92 million City Wastewater Plant$30 million City Special Improvement Dist.$27 million Hospital/Clinic/Longterm Care$80 million County Law Enforcement Center $58 million Wolf Run Village Apartments$ 7 million Wolf Pup Daycare$ 4 million  WE HAVE STORIES OF COLLABORATION IN ALL OF THE ABOVE! EACH ONE IS A “LIFETIME” TYPE PROJECT.

 State Funding -- $250+ million in the Area  Community Leadership continued its collaboration with the ND Oil and Gas Producing Counties organization and engaged State Leadership to communicate the growth needs  County -- Ron Anderson, Roger Chinn, Linda Svihovec, Gene Veeder,  School -- Steve Holen  Hospital -- Dan Kelly  City -- Brent Sanford Oil Impact Funding – legislative action the last 3 sessions  Sewer and Water Mains – 2011 and 2013 Impact funding  Arterial Streets – 2015 Surge funding of $32 million  Water infrastructure –SWC 2014  Law Enforcement/First Responders – Equipment, Vehicles, Training – 2011, 2013, 2015 Impact funding  Schools – Housing grants  Hospitals – bad debt and housing grants Gross Production Tax / Oil Formula increases – legislative action last 3 sessions HIF – affordable housing grants (multiple local projects) NDDOT -- Highway Bypasses, Business Routes, Highway 85 and 23 BND -- Direct Borrowing for Western Area Water Supply Project BND -- Direct Borrowing from our Gross Production Tax BND/NDPFA -- Direct Borrowing for SRF eligible public utility projects

 Developer Funding - Ongoing Curb and gutter, utilities and streets -- on their own, not SID Offsite improvements  Extending streets and utilities to their developments  Repayment is possible, but a large upfront cost Community assessments  $2,500 per unit for Fire, Ambulance, School, Police, Parks support High Land costs -- $2-$10/foot Tighter Credit terms when borrowing for projects High labor and material costs “Not as easy to do here as Fargo”

 Where do we go from here? $45 oil is bringing out the “Chicken Littles” School enrollment still increasing – from 500 up to 1,400 students since 2010 Excessive camper population – 30-40% of students Housing unit needs gap – we need up to 10,000 units per NDSU/KLJ long term impact study. 2,500 so far. Retail developments still coming, following new rooftops Housing developers still here but losing steam No oil companies are saying they won’t drill their 60,000 wells in the area… So the jobs aren’t going away  WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO KEEP GOING  WE ARE KEEPING OUR EYE ON THE HORIZON, STILL PLANNING AND REINVESTING AND COLLABORATING

Future Land Use Planning Study 2040 Future Land Use and LRTP

 Recipe for Success: Embrace your natural strengths and empower your local leaders. Plan, collaborate, and invest in yourselves. Planning –  Embrace your natural strengths – what makes your community unique?  Define desired community infrastructure – be broad in your definition  Put together a plan to get there Reinvestment -- Tax yourselves, prioritize other public revenues and reinvest in community infrastructure Flexible growth – keep the infrastructure plan flexible and future focused Leadership -- Identify and Empower local leaders Collaboration -- avoid infighting at all costs, you are all on the same team  Questions or Comments?  Thank you!  Contact information: Brent Sanford