A small group of Heber residents filed a referendum petition Thursday, Jan. 23, over the future of the North Village, where two developments, Crossings and Harvest Village, are slated for construction.
The referendum seeks to undo the Heber City Council’s decision in late December 2024 to annex around 95 acres north of the city. With the development agreements approved Jan. 21, the council formally approved plans for new housing, hotels and recreation areas to be built on the land.
Tracy Taylor, a Heber resident and one of the sponsors of the petition, said she doesn’t think the decisions represent what the community wants.
“We filed the referendum last Thursday for the actual annexation approval,” she said. “The city decided to have it contingent on the approval of the developments of the Crossings and Harvest Village, but the initial annexation approval is what our referendum is about.”
The approvals come after several months of discussions in public meetings, during which residents shared feedback about the plans.
But Taylor said she objects to the council making changes to the plans the night of the vote. She said she got involved because she doesn’t think residents know what the council approved.
Also among the sponsors of the referendum is Joe Barney, the son of Heber City Councilmember Yvonne Barney. She was the only councilmember to vote “no” on the development agreements, saying she thought the decision was rushed and the growth wasn’t right for Heber.
Developers, meanwhile, say they’ve negotiated with the city to make the plans a better fit for the community. Neil Goldman, the developer for Harvest Village, pointed to the open space planned for both sides of the highway – over 50% open space for Harvest Village and roughly 60% for Crossings.
City government is charged with deciding if the referendum can proceed. State law requires referendum petitions to be filed within five days of the date a land use decision is made. It’s not yet clear whether the December annexation vote or the finalized agreement on Jan. 21 started the countdown to that deadline.
It’s also not clear when the petitioners want voters to weigh in. The petition seeks a November 2026 vote, although there’s a municipal election in November 2025.
The next step in the referendum application process is for the city’s budget office to prepare an estimate of the financial and legal impacts of the referendum.
Meanwhile, the city government must determine if the petition can legally be placed on the ballot.
Those decisions must be published within 20 days of the petition being filed Jan. 23.
If the petition is approved, the sponsors need to gather signatures from 29% of active Heber voters to get on the ballot, since the referendum concerns land use.
In the 2023 election, there were about 8,700 voters registered in Heber. If numbers remain similar, Taylor and her fellow petitioners would need to collect over 2,500 signatures.
Taylor said she believes referenda are a key way for Heber residents to make their opinions known.
“It’s really just a mechanism for the citizens to actually formally vote on the issue, instead of trying to get their voices heard in a public comment section of a local entity’s public meeting,” she said. “It just doesn’t seem to be translating as well in the actual meeting. This is a way to formally have a vote and have a say.”
The Heber petition comes amid statewide changes to the referendum process, including shortening the time limit to file a petition. During this legislative session, the Salt Lake Tribune reports Republican lawmakers are backing a bill that would make it more expensive for citizens to put their initiatives on the ballot.
More information about the referendum process is available on the lieutenant governor's website.
