At the city council meeting Tuesday night, Dec. 19, city leaders voted to donate four acres of land for a new Heber City Arts District.
It will sit east of the UVU Wasatch campus in northern Heber City along U.S. 40.
Now, the Wasatch County Arts Council has a formal lease agreement with the city for a future Community Arts Center building and parking space.
It will be part of a proposed arts campus that will include an outdoor amphitheater, performance spaces, art classes and a park.
The Arts Council only needs to pay $1 a year for 50 years to use the city’s land, with the option to extend that agreement another 25 years.
Pat Sweeney, the president of the Wasatch Arts Council, said before Tuesday’s vote she’s excited about a potential 75-year lease.
“It is something that the Wasatch Arts Council has created as a mission, which was to support the local artists and give them a place to create,” she said. “That is a commitment on Heber’s part, that is incredible.”
The council voted unanimously to approve the lease agreement.
Heber City mayor Heidi Franco said she was glad to see the plans for an arts district move forward.
“There is no quality of life without the arts, and without that creativity and imagination and ability to grow our talents and share those with others,” she said. “That is what makes life wonderful in so many ways, for everyone – both those who are participating and performing, and those who get to witness and be inspired from it.”
The arts council will now work to raise $60 million for the building so work can begin.
