Heber City councilmembers are deep in discussions about the proposed Harvest Village and Crossings developments. If approved, the two neighborhoods would add nearly 800 units of housing, hotels and retail north of town.
In a discussion Dec. 3 about draft development agreements, some councilmembers argued the proportions of those elements aren’t quite right. They said to match the city’s original intent for the area, there should be more places for people to gather.
The land is part of what’s called the North Village Overlay Zone, and Councilmember Sid Ostergaard said plans should reflect the “village” part of the name.
“What is a village? You need places where people can be and live, especially if you have workforce there,” he said.” And are they going to have cars? Probably not. Is High Valley going to come and take them to Smiths or wherever? It would be nice to have that type of component there.”
He said incorporating transit would help reduce the amount of added traffic on U.S. 40 from the new construction.
Developers said there will be a gas station with a small grocery section in the convenience store, and hotels will have coffee shops.
But Councilmember Mike Johnston said that’s not enough for either residents or visitors.
“It’s an important intersection, and I see all the people you want to house, and I just think it would be nice if they had a little bit more than just a gas station and convenience store,” he said. “People like to walk to that rather than hop into an Uber.”
During public comment, resident Christen Thompson spoke up to share similar feedback. He said amenities like restaurants and gyms would help make the proposed development a community. He also advocated for more specific trails requirements.
“I would just urge that the agreement includes a timeline on when the trails are going to be built so we don’t have a repeat of other developments where, 12 years later, we don’t have the trails that were promised when the development was approved,” he said.
But other locals didn’t share Thompson’s view. Heber resident Mark Blasso said he was upset about the proposed developments.
“Heber gets laughed at all the time with the out-of-control growth, no plan – then we have this guy wanting to put a hotel in and gas stations,” he said. “What? Beautiful, pristine area that goes into Midway, [and] we’ve got to look at this? I don’t know what’s wrong with you guys.”
And resident Tara Morris agreed.
“As a resident of this valley, this proposal is disgusting to me and many of the actual residents in this audience. These developers talk about building for the community, but they clearly don’t understand the community they think they are serving,” she said. “What is this, California? We need open space.”
The mixed public comments reflected the differing opinions among councilmembers.
After more than three hours of conversation, the council still had a long list of unresolved issues, with the appropriate amount of density high on the list. Councilmembers are also still debating how that density would be allocated to residential and commercial uses.
The council will continue the conversation about the Harvest Village and Crossings proposals at its meeting Dec. 17.
