Heber leaders have been talking with developers for years about plans for two proposed developments north of town, Crossings and Harvest Village, collectively known as the North Village annexation.
On Tuesday, Dec. 17, councilmembers voted 3-2 to annex the land as soon as the final details in the master development agreements are approved.
The decision comes after a series of public meetings in which locals voiced strong opinions about the plans.
Tuesday’s city council meeting brought another robust round of public comment. Some residents spoke in support of the annexation, like Dave Anderson, who said he changed his mind after talking to developers and city councilmembers.
“I know development’s coming,” he said. “I just want it to be responsible.”
Another local, Misha Baum, said she thought the development was well-planned and fairly conservative.
But many others, like Bryanna Layer, spoke in strong terms against the plans.
“Is this the legacy you want to leave when you look back? Will you be proud of ravaging the natural beauty of our valley – and all for what?” she said. “These developers are not invested in preserving the character and quality of our land, water, wildlife or air – and it certainly doesn’t seem like you are.”
And Midway resident Tom Wardle said he thought the annexation would set a concerning precedent.
“To my mind, that represents the first incursion from the north, in a significant way, into the North Fields,” he said.
Other commenters brought up traffic and infrastructure worries.
Councilmember Mike Johnston said if the land remained in the county, where it’s zoned as part of the North Village Overlay Zone, developers could seek approval for higher density, taller buildings and no affordable housing. But he argued Heber’s guidelines would bring more benefits to city residents and help control growth to better match what locals want to see.
“How [it] worst benefits us is to let it stay in the county and to become the Kimball Junction of Park City on our north boundary, and to have the hotels – very nice hotels – to have the gas stations, to have the restaurants that everybody uses, but we don’t get to benefit from them,” he said. “We get zero sales tax, zero transient room tax, zero restaurant tax, zero TAP tax, zero utility tax, zero everything. Oh, we get the traffic. That’s what we get.”
Councilmember Aaron Cheatwood backed up Johnston’s comments. He said the city had negotiated with the developers based on feedback from the public.
“Even if I end up voting no, what we’re talking about tonight is wildly different than what we were talking about four months ago,” he said. “It is different. It has gotten smaller.”
One of the main sticking points in the discussion was affordable housing. Developers and city leaders couldn’t agree on whether the housing should be dorm-style, for seasonal workers, or apartments or townhomes more suitable for families.
City attorney Jeremy Cook proposed making a fee in lieu the default. That’s an arrangement in which the developer gives the city money to build affordable units wherever it decides is best. The agreement would also leave the door open for the developer to propose on-site alternatives.
“It’s really hard to draft it in a way that stands the test of time and is not able to be circumvented unless you’re very specific,” he said. “But I think the next best thing is to say we’re comfortable with the fee in lieu payment, and basically, if they propose something to us that we like, we have the option to accept that.”
Johnston said all affordable housing in Heber City is deed-restricted in perpetuity, which means it’s guaranteed to stay affordable.
As the meeting ran on toward midnight, there were still details in the development agreements to work out.
Johnston made a motion to approve the annexation, which will be effective as soon as the agreements are finalized.
Sid Ostergaard and Scott Phillips also voted in favor of the annexation. Aaron Cheatwood and Yvonne Barney dissented.
The city will fine-tune and finalize the master development agreements in the new year.
