The plan the council approved Tuesday is a more detailed version of the layout it approved in February.
In both versions, the main changes included building a new, wider runway southwest from its current position and farther from the highway, with wider safety buffer zones. The updated 20-year master plan also includes more parking for cars and planes, a new tarmac, 12 new hangars, an airport access road and renovations of existing facilities.
After the Federal Aviation Administration warned the airport was out of safety compliance with the regular traffic flying in and out, Heber City commissioned consultants to help plan necessary changes in 2017.
Project manager Jeremy McAlister of T.O. Engineers briefed the council about the new master plan Tuesday.
The first two phases include site planning and “periphery” improvements. Those could take 10 years or more. After that, crews could start phase three, building the runway.
Councilmember Yvonne Barney voted no, despite comments that she supported the work done by consultants and airport staff.
“We have one big, huge — I don't know how you say — Big Brother looking over our shoulder,” Barney said. “That’a the FAA saying, ‘You've already got these jets.’ Can we stop these jets? Can we stop certain vehicles from going onto a ramp on the highway? No, we can't. If we stay the way we are, we'll still have to pay because the FAA will walk away from us, and there's all this money that, of course, will land in the pockets and into the pockets of the community.”
On Tuesday, and when she was the lone ‘no’ vote back in February, she said residents had complained planes fly too close to their homes.
Councilmember Mike Johnston and the other three in favor cited public support for the master plan and a survey which found residents did not want to pay hundreds more in taxes each year to breach the FAA contracts.
However, minutes before the vote, Mayor Heidi Franco criticized the public process, calling the survey “disingenuous.”
“We certainly had some verbal threats, but we've never received any official letter that they would cut off all entitlement funding,” Franco said. “They really can't do that unless they follow their own process, and it's never come to that for them to actually say that. I feel that this process has been shoved down the citizens’ throats, and we have not been forthcoming with all the information that we should have been because there was a predetermined end, and no matter what the citizens have said, the predetermined end is now in this vote, and it was coming for years.”
Councilmembers voted 4 to 1 to approve the master plan, which now goes to the FAA for approval. If the FAA signs off, the city can begin phase 1 of the plan.
However, the current runway could last another 20 years. McAlister and City Manager Matt Brower said the FAA could also decide to delay construction to take advantage of its maximum lifespan.
The airport master plan and a recording of the council meeting are available on hebervalleyflightpath.com and heberut.gov.
