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Rezoning in Heber could help put homeownership in reach for more locals

As Heber grows, the city council hopes to incentivize developers to construct more townhomes and condos.
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As Heber grows, the city council hopes to incentivize developers to construct more townhomes and condos.

Census data shows Heber’s wages aren’t keeping pace with the cost of housing. Here's how city leaders are trying to address the challenge.

The area median income (AMI) in Heber is about $115,000 for a family of three.

But the median price for a detached single-family home, a little under $1 million, would require a family to earn almost $190,000 per year. And to afford the average home price, about $1.4 million, a family needs an income of more than double the current AMI.

To add to the challenge, fewer than 5% of jobs in Heber have salaries above the AMI. People need to travel outside Wasatch County, especially for higher-earning jobs, and most do, according to Columbus Pacific Development partner Tony Tyler.

“Two-thirds of your workforce commute out of the county,” he said.

Tyler met with the Heber City Council at a meeting earlier this month to brainstorm ways to improve the city’s housing situation.

He said townhomes and condos are within closer reach for most Heber residents than detached single-family homes – although the median and average prices for townhomes are still higher than what most families can afford.

But it’s difficult to convince developers to build those kinds of homes, and the real estate market in Heber reflects that. Just 10% of active home listings in Heber in October cost under $550,000.

Tyler said there’s a gap in part because it’s more lucrative for builders to construct detached homes. Liability, infrastructure and engineering costs tend to be higher for buildings with multiple units.

“If you provide infrastructure [to] single-family detached homes – builders will go there because it is the least expensive product to build at the highest margin,” he said.

He said Heber’s policies over the years have fed into this trend and made it more attractive to build single-family houses.

But to create housing that locals can afford, Tyler said the city needs to figure out ways to incentivize condo and townhome developments instead.

Often, mixed-use developments can be a solution, as Councilmember Yvonne Barney pointed out, because business spaces can help make up for the lower return on investment from affordable housing.

“We have a councilmember who said this will bring workforce housing, this will bring affordable housing,” she said. “[But] it won’t work here, basically, is what we’re seeing. Unless it’s a mixed-use type situation, where you have that commercial base to provide that investment or to bring that money back, if you will.”

Tyler said rezoning parts of downtown can also make it easier to invite developers, especially smaller or local companies, to build low- and middle-income housing.

“You know what you want to be. Your zoning code is holding you back from that today,” he said. “So, if I would give you one piece of advice, it is: Take your general plan and make your zoning map match it. Change the uses, change the heights, change the setbacks, change the parking, change the densities.”

He also recommended the city invest in more downtown infrastructure to attract development that will serve Heber residents. City planners say they’ve heard from developers they’d be more interested in building in Heber if the city took care of utilities, sidewalks and lighting.

“You take care of the power lines, you take care of the streetscape, and that will go a long way to getting people interested in investing money in the downtown,” city manager Matt Brower said.

The council’s discussion about housing and development challenges came as the city continues to refine its plan for downtown revitalization. City leaders hope to win support from Wasatch County and the Wasatch County School District for their tax increment funding plan by the end of this year.