Heber leaders have long described the downtown park as central to a larger vision of making Main Street a destination for locals and visitors.
To come up with a plan for City Park’s future, Heber consulted Roger Brooks, who’s designed park renovations for other cities and towns with similar demographics and populations.
His vision for “the most awesome square in the United States” includes a splash pad, an ice ribbon, outdoor dining, a larger bandshell and more. In total, his ideas would cost an estimated $23 million.
On Tuesday, March 18, Heber City councilmembers said they like the high-level plan and voted unanimously to move into the next stage of the park transformation project: refining and budgeting for smaller pieces of the project.
City Manager Matt Brower emphasized the council’s decision Tuesday steers the plans into a new phase of city brainstorming and public feedback.
“Because it is such a large plan… it was thought that perhaps what we would do is come back, accept the plan, and that would then initiate the process of doing detailed design on the plaza,” he said. “What this means is it’s going to be a process that would allow for additional public input at key milestones.”
Heber hosted an open house about the park plans in October 2024, where Brooks and city staff shared information with residents about adding amenities to the space and targeting about 250 days of activities per year.
Councilmember Mike Johnston said while the park concepts are still preliminary, approving a big-picture goal is necessary to make progress.
“Not a single dollar has been allocated for this,” he said. “We’re not even approving one thing on it, but it is a vision that we can talk about with the citizens, with businesses, with our council, with the planning commission, with the staff. It’s a place to start.”
Brower agreed, emphasizing the cost estimates and timeline will be adjusted based on the city’s budget and priorities.
Councilmember Aaron Cheatwood shared some worries about Brooks’ proposal, laid out in a colorful, 134-page document.
He said he didn’t feel Brooks or his partner, Keri Smith, who transformed a city park in Idaho, listened to the council’s feedback.
“I went to a ton of those meetings with Roger and with Keri, and I feel like when they asked me questions and I gave back my insights, I don’t see that anywhere in the plan,” he said. “It makes me nervous that I didn’t see that. And then, all of the pro formas and all of the discussions, it never changes. The same plan is on every page.”
He also pointed out the only version of the park transformation shared with the city includes maximum programming and the most significant changes to the park space. He said he’d feel more comfortable if Brooks had also shared the financial impact of the plans with more limited programming or slower phases of construction.
Cheatwood also said he would have liked to see renderings of what the park would look like partway through the proposed transformation.
Still, he voted to move forward with the concept, saying every aspect of Brooks’ proposal will be adjusted and reconsidered as it goes through the approval and funding process.
Councilmember Yvonne Barney said she sympathized with residents who are reluctant to see the park change. But she said she also saw an opportunity to restore some of Heber’s “hometown feel.”
“Those with the biggest questions are those of us who’ve lived here for many, many years,” she said. “But we are trying to find the opportunity to move ahead or open the door for us to have more of what we had before.”
Construction is nearing completion on the new bandshell at the north end of City Park, as well as the repaving of 200 South.
Brower estimated the bandshell will be finished by April 1, and the road will reopen by May 1.
