An agreement the Heber City Council narrowly passed Tuesday night states the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which wants to build a temple east of downtown, will build a roundabout on the road it’s connected to, Center Street. It also says Heber City will take over jurisdiction of some of that road from Wasatch County.
It’s not a binding agreement. It’s a memorandum of understanding, also called an “MOU,” which is a show of faith about future decisions between the three parties, and the county still has to sign off.
Wasatch County is the final authority that can approve the eventual building permit for the temple to be built. County Manager Dustin Grabau told KPCW there’s still no scheduled date for when that could happen, but maybe within a few months.
Some in attendance asked why bother with the roundabout if the temple still isn’t approved?
Heber City Mayor Heidi Franco said it helps planners get ahead of the curve.
“I think it's going to take time for us to work with the county on the water issues and what's been done and how that can affect us,” she said. “I don't want to see this pushed down the road, where we miss what we need in the road if this is approved.”
Councilmember Ryan Stack was one of the two who voted against the MOU. He said he wanted to see more about the church’s plans and how they may impact Heber City first. Yvonne Barney also voted no, saying she agreed with Stack.
Heber City resident Alissa Haynes asked the council to oppose the MOU. She said she’s concerned about the amount of traffic the temple is expected to bring and whether a roundabout is the right choice for that road.
“Based on the roundabout that's being proposed,’ she said, “and having a four-way stop only a couple-hundred feet away, we're going to have bottlenecking happening here between the four-way stop at Center Street and Mill Road and the roundabout. Also, the roundabout is not large enough to accommodate for recreational vehicles that are going to be traveling to and from up into the Uintas.”
Several councilmembers said they expected the large turnout Tuesday but hoped residents understood Heber City government will not control what happens with the temple.
Councilmember Scott Phillips said he supports much of the planning for the temple so far, as well as the proposed location.
“I talked to someone the other day who said, ‘You know, this is a neighborhood. It doesn't belong here. It belongs north of town.’ Well, guess what? That's also a neighborhood. I'm just saying, you know, if we move it to somewhere else, we'll have a different crowd coming to say we don't want the temple in our backyard.”
He said it’s a shame the issue has become divisive in the community and hard on city elected leaders who have to answer for the temple planning process even though they have no say in whether it’s built.
He said it’s connected to a larger issue, that his council and other local officials sometimes feel their hands are tied in their own jurisdictions.
“We don't really have much of a say because the state is the ultimate land authority in Utah,” he said. “For people who have come from other states, Utah is different. The state runs the land authority, and the whole state legislature’s developers. You see what's happening in Park City. I mean, developments are being approved without the city or the county approving it because they're not willing to put a plan, and willing to move forward and do what they need to do.”
On Wednesday, Phillips and Councilmember Rachel Kahler shared messages to social media. They said they had received many emails and letters about the topic and wanted to further address the main concerns publicly that way.
