More to the Dale Wamstad Story

At the City Council meeting of May 13 Dale Wamstad took to the podium opposed to Subway’s request to move his business to the end of a building in an effort to help increase his business sales. Previously, that spot had been occupied by a dry cleaner business that decided to throw in the towel and close. The city council voted 6-1 in opposition to the request without giving much of a reason even after the City Planning Commission voted 5-0 in favor of the request. Maybe it was in deference to the man waving his tax bill at the podium.

But there is more to this story.

Several years ago Dale Wamstad came to Richardson with plans to develop what is now known as the Shire at Jupiter and Bush. Things seemed pretty good: New business and more tax revenue. In his pitch he demanded the city pay for a road, something that would have been normally been paid for by the developer. When Gary Slagel and Bill Keffler told him no, Wamstad picked up his toys and said too bad, if you don’t build the road, I will not do this. He left.

Apparently Keffler and Slagel talked it over and decided to give into Wamstad’s demand for the city to build the road. They called him two weeks later and things got back on track.

When the idea of the Shire was presented to the City Planning Commission, some of the commissioners asked about the road and who would be building it. Monica Heid said the city and the development would share the cost. When pressed for a more detailed explanation, she apparently said Wamstad shared expense would be to donate the land for the road while the city would pay for the infrastructure. In essence, Wamstad got out of having to do what a developer is normally responsible for.

The road wasn’t just pouring some concrete over dirt. Where Shire Blvd was to be built was a normal drainage area. This area needed culvert installed, then had to be filled up with dirt, then finally the concrete could be poured. This provided quite a present to Wamstad and saved him lots of money. So it is with amusement I watched him wave his tax bill when he seems to fail to realize he still has come out far ahead.

This is an instance in which the city manager and the mayor made the decisions in private and things played things out behind closed doors.

Wamstad opposing Subway’s move, the city planning commission voting for the move and the city council not publicly giving a good reason for voting against the advice of the planning commission raises questions about how things are done at city hall. These things don’t even consider the $7,000 Wamstad donated to Laura Maczka, but that is another interesting point.