Our View: West is the city's future

The area west of Green River, past Jamestown, is poised to explode with development in the next few years.

A Love’s Travel Stop is going through the permitting process and should that project come to fruition, it wouldn’t be hard to see other developments like a restaurant or some other business built to attract people off of Interstate 80.

With that realization, it seems like the vision of past mayors to see expansion west of Green River was the correct course for the city to take and unfortunately, failed to navigate to completion.

Past projects like the sections of land former mayor Hank Castillon desired to purchase seemed like pie in the sky ideas even to this newspaper at the time they were proposed. However, hindsight being 20/20, we can see now that if the city acquired the Bureau of Land Management-owned sections of land Castillon spoke about and gave its support to the Jamestown/Rio Vista Water and Sewer District with the water problems it faced, prospects for future development would have likely been much brighter for the city.

What we shouldn’t do is dwell on the “what ifs.” Opportunity for local entrepreneurs still exist despite the city not owning the massive plots of land west of Jamestown. With the truck stop and the possibility of a housing subdivision being created near Rolling Greens Country Club, commercial businesses developed to take advantage of placement off I-80 and near a large residential area would undoubtedly take off. Returning to the idea of a restaurant, both fast food and a sit-down establishment would pay off in different ways. Fast food would take advantage of the customers wanting to make a quick stop on a journey down I-80, while a restaurant would attract people coming out of the country club or living near by, as well as the travelers seeking a longer stop.

Opportunity exists outside of Rock Springs and the area west of Green River is a prime example of that fact. Hopefully, we will see additional development beyond what has already been discussed. Development out there may end up helping the city as well, providing jobs to residents and giving travelers a chance to think about checking out that nice town down the road with the river running through it.