Heber City staff spent about a year planning and holding meetings with focus groups to come up with Envision Central Heber. City Manager Matt Brower called it a “a very detailed vision” of the city’s development goals to revitalize Main Street, central neighborhoods and the recreation and tourism district on the west side.
The city council could have adopted the plan Tuesday. Like in 2020 when the previous council adopted a 30-year general plan for the city, Envision Central Heber would establish goals for city planners and councilmembers.
The main proposed tenets are to incentivize new shops and restaurants, preserve the historic character of neighborhoods and develop more tourist attractions. One specific idea is to create an outdoor-oriented commercial district north of the future high school on Midway Lane. Another is a corridor on 100 South with restaurants and a walking trail connected to a parking garage and the Heber Valley Railroad.
If the council had voted and confirmed Envision Central Heber Tuesday, it would not have triggered new zoning changes or approved specific developments.
Still, Councilmember Yvonne Barney had reservations about how it could affect some neighborhood areas where the city sees redevelopment opportunities.
“For right now, as we go forward for the next 10, 15 years, we should keep it as is,” she said. “You have citizens already very concerned when they see this plan and hear of this extension, and how we're wanting to phase out into the 200 block on either side. It's concerning because most of them are still — it's just a viable neighborhood, quiet neighborhood.”
She referenced parts of the plan that could extend an area meant for redevelopment into neighborhoods. Mayor Heidi Franco said she had also heard from residents they were not interested in seeing those areas change.
Councilmember Mike Johnston said limiting options now could cost the city economic opportunity in the decades to come.
“I think we're really close. We're down to some really difficult decisions,” he said. “Change is really hard, but what we do here isn't determining what we become next year. It's decades from now, and you have to start somewhere. If we don't do anything with the central neighborhoods because we say, “Well, they don't want anything changed,” then nothing will change for decades. If we don't fatten our main commercial corridor, then we will suffer the consequences of that down the road.”
The council asked city planners to tweak the language with more focus on where to plan for commercial incentives.
Since the passage of the general plan in 2020, city leaders say the main goal is to create a more walkable, vibrant downtown with more shopping, tourist attractions and parking.
Several efforts are underway to support this. One is an economic development project to generate a surge in tax dollars for 20 years. That money can be used to invest in projects in the downtown area, called a community reinvestment area, or “CRA.”
Before the council discussed the Envision Central Heber plan on Tuesday, it heard from Roger Brooks, an Arizona-based consultant who specializes in destination tourism.
He said he envisions a Heber City oriented around a public square in the middle of town with a variety of attractions nearby that bring people together.
“Key to all of this, and this is one thing that's really, really important, is every city needs a community living room,” Brooks said. “When friends and family visit you, maybe you watch a movie. Well, why can't we do that downtown? Maybe we pull out table games — chess, checkers, whatever and maybe we could do that downtown.”
He suggested the council consider examples set by other cities he recently helped revamp their downtowns, including Caldwell, Idaho and Rapid City, South Dakota.
A link to view the council meeting in full is available here.
