Friends and Neighbors,
Spring is in the air.
I want to say how much I appreciate my fellow council members for the way we work together to come to the best resolutions for our community—even when we agree to disagree. I look forward to the things we’ll continue to accomplish together, and I’m grateful to each of them for their efforts in making Heber City a wonderful place to live.
Speaking of which, we have some great community events coming up in May, so be sure to mark your calendar!
Saturday, May 11 at 9 a.m.
Annual Downtown Spring Cleanup
Tuesday, May 21 at 1 p.m.
Public Works Rodeo
Wednesday, May 22 at 5:30pm
Party in the Park
Additionally, Unity Week is on the schedule for June 3 to June 8, which will offer many opportunities to get out and serve a neighbor or help beautify our community. From a downtown flower planting to the rededication of the old Heber Stake Tabernacle, it’s sure to be a great success. Stay tuned for more details!
Celebration Workforce Housing
This is a proposed project near Wasatch High School on 1200 S, east of the new fire station. The idea is to build a multifamily housing complex specifically for employees of Heber City, Wasatch County, Wasatch School District, the hospital—and any other essential workers in our area.
The median home price in Heber is nearing $1 million, and the area median income (AMI) for a home for four is about $127,300, but the developer is considering renting these units out at a price affordable to someone who makes 60% of the AMI. The project would also include an extended stay hotel, common areas, and a shared parking lot to add to the high school’s parking.
The Wasatch County School district and hospital have both shown a lot of interest in the project as many of their employees must commute from nearby areas. I think it’s a wonderful idea that truly underscores our dedication to meeting the needs of essential workers in our community.
Harvest Village
Set to be built at the intersection of Highway 40 and River Road (to the North of Heber City), this area is within our future annexation plan map and is a very strategic corner because it’s the entrance to the Valley.
The County originally entitled the property and approved the plan for a water park and hotel, as well as townhomes or another type of multifamily housing. Now, the current owner would like to be annexed into Heber City.
The Council is favorable to the annexation mainly because it sits within our current annexation master plan, and the current owner is not planning a water park, in fact, he’d like to decrease density on the property.
The ideas they are producing are unique and creative, and as the Deer Valley East Village takes shape, we want to be able to draw visitors in to take advantage of all we offer as well.
Heber Valley Airport Fees Schedule
Knowing who is using the airport is very important for several reasons. First, to determine the number of aircraft based at HVA to determine how much state and federal funding the airport receives. Second, the critical need to accurately track and collect landing fees, one of the larger airport revenue sources.
Planes that have been registered with the state of Utah will not be charged landing fees and those that are not registered with the state of Utah will be charged landing fees.
The City has now sourced a third party to collect these fees to help make the process more accurate and more efficient, and the Council is supporting it to uphold our promise of having the users of the airport pay for it.
Cemetery Administration Building Bids
I’m very much looking forward to this project, which was supposed to get started this spring, but unfortunately, all the construction bids came back double the amount we anticipated.
Many ideas were shared in how to move forward, and the consensus is to see what it would take to build the project in phases, focusing on the administration building and only part of the columbarium for now.
Selling reservations for the columbarium will pay for the project over time, but we just need to decide if we want to use some of our reserves to do as much as we can now.
I am sure there will be more updates pertaining to this project in the future.
Sculpture Park
Monument of the Americas, a new sculpture park, will be situated near the UVU campus as a part of the arts district in the North Village. This is a private endeavor, so their presentation was simply to inform, but I truly believe it will be an asset to the community. The amount of work that has gone into the sculpting and the planning of this park has taken years—and the talent of the sculptor is evident.
I’m also looking forward to new artwork coming to a roundabout near you. There are sculptures and pieces planned for the four new roundabouts in town, including 900 S and 550 E, 900 S and Mill Road, Heritage Farms Parkway and Center Street, and Daniel Road near the airport.
The more art and talent that can be displayed in a community, the better.
Wasatch County Parks Development
We have several neighborhood parks that are beautiful, efficient, and easy to maintain in perpetuity—and I personally prefer it that way. We discussed overall parks development, during which I expressed my concerns about forcing bathrooms and parking to be built in a neighborhood park. Everything we build costs money to construct and maintain into the future. I prefer simple parks—and more of them!
Arts Advisory Committee for the TAP (Trails, Arts, Parks) Tax
The Arts Advisory Committee for the TAP Tax presented their scorecards of community organizations that have applied for funds.
It really makes me happy that we now have some money in the valley for the Trails, Arts and Parks, and I look forward to the many projects those funds will be supporting now and into the future, including the new bandshell under construction.
It was a wonderful presentation, and I look forward to all that we can do with these funds together as a community.
School House Academy Development Agreement
The School House Academy’s development agreement was approved with a 5-0 vote. Located next to Heber Valley Elementary School, this is sure to be a great asset to the community.
Sincerely,
D. Scott Phillips
Heber City Council