The very last item on the agenda for Heber City Council’s meeting on May 2 was the presentation of a concept for affordable workforce housing.
“We’ve talked with council about potentially buying property. Tonight’s really just a discussion about property that we already own that we don’t have to reach out and buy,” Heber City Planning Director Tony Kohler told the council.
The property, known as Duke Farms, is a plot of agricultural land the city purchased in 2018. It is just to the west of the city cemetery.
It was "initially purchased with the idea for a cemetery and/or park,” Kohler said.
He presented one idea for the property, a three-acre park surrounded by various types of housing: single family units, townhouses and mansion-style condos. But he asked the council not to get "too hung up" on the concept.
"Really tonight the question is, do you even support pursuing this affordable housing idea on the property?" he told the council.
The council was divided on that question. Councilmember Ryan Stack said the concept was the “right idea in the wrong location.”
“To me, it's incredibly important that the Duke property remain 100% park property, especially given the density going in in New London and the intensity of the uses up there,” Stack said.
Councilmember Mike Jonhston, meanwhile, expressed support for both the idea and the location.
“We have more park space on the northeast quadrant of the city than any other quadrant," he said. "I'm reticent to put 14, 15 more acres of improved park where we already have lots of parks. And we have more parks coming.”
But family spokesperson Sarah Duke Duncan told KPCW that a housing development is not at all what the family had in mind when they sold the property to the city.
“We feel like the city's done a bait and switch on us,” she said.
Duncan said the city had approached the family several times about buying the property, which had been in the family for generations.
“The family decided that everyone was getting older. They wanted to make sure that the land would be taken care of down the road,” she said.
Duncan said the city told them it wanted to expand the cemetery, and the family thought that made sense.
“That's what the family decided to do to leave their legacy to the valley," she said. "They could have developed it. They could have made millions and millions of dollars and put in their own housing. But that's not what they wanted the land to be.”
Duncan said the family was told they couldn’t stipulate what the property would be used for, as that was against state law.
City manager Matt Brower wasn’t involved in the sale back in 2018 and can’t speak to what was said during negotiations.
He told KPCW the city intends to honor the language of the contract, which stipulates that the land retain its agricultural use for five years. That obligation will end in August.
Brower also said there was “no question” that the initial purpose of the acquisition was to expand the cemetery. But since the purchase, the city found such an expansion wasn’t necessary.
“The city, subsequent to purchasing the land, did a cemetery master plan," he said. "And that master plan identified that the city has over 100 years of capacity — meaning we have enough burial plots to last for over 100 years.”
What is necessary, Brower said, is attracting police officers, nurses and schoolteachers to the city. But the rise in housing prices since 2018 has made that “nearly impossible.”
“We are really struggling in recruiting, retaining these types of individuals,” he said.
Brower noted that the council has yet to formally make any policy decision on the land.
“All we're trying to do is kick the tires to see if there's something there worth our time to investigate further,” he said.
The Duke family will be offering their input on that decision. Sarah Duncan’s aunt, Di Ann Duke Turner, will give a 20-minute presentation on their position at the next Heber City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 6.
