The Heber City Council voted Tuesday, Dec. 3, to pay a contractor over $100,000 to design the next phase of changes to its Main Street park.
Design firm Terracon will come up with three concepts with a range of sizes for the proposed buildings and amenities in the future park. The plans would also include cost estimates.
Heber City Manager Matt Brower said the council will go over the three designs at its retreat in late January.
“Once you’ve blessed them, we would then take them out on the road, if you will, and get feedback through various means from the public as to what they most support,” he said.
This phase comes more than a year after urban planning consultant Roger Brooks shared his vision to turn City Park into “the most awesome square in the United States.” His ideas for the two-block park include ice skating in the winter, a splashpad in the summer, pop-up spaces for small businesses, and a steady rotation of family activities.
Terracon proposed three community open houses in February 2026, where locals could see three-dimensional sketches of “low-, medium- and high-cost options” of Roger Brooks’ ideas.
A preferred plan would be presented to the city council in March.
Some councilmembers said there’s already been plenty of public outreach.
Councilmember Sid Ostergaard said he worries city leaders will “keep on spinning our wheels” instead of acting decisively.
“Roger Brooks worked his butt off, going out and researching and talking, and we did a lot of public outreach,” he said. “My concern is, we need the next step. We are just going around in circles right now.”
He said the city needs to get a cost estimate, then apply for grant funding and get the plans done.
Mayor Heidi Franco, however, said the city needs more public feedback to move forward.
“We need an official survey that is going to reach out to the majority of the public, that’s statistically significant,” she said. “Because you are proposing to change the name of the park, which people love; you’re proposing to change pretty much everything about that park, which people love.”
Councilmember Yvonne Barney said she was reluctant to spend the money but thought the contract would be worthwhile if locals could give meaningful feedback on more specific design plans.
“If it gets us to the point where we have three options where we really talk about it – take out the ice ribbon; here it is with the ice ribbon; here’s a smaller ice ribbon; all of those things – I think that goes farther with our public,” she said.
The contract was approved with a 4-1 vote. The city will spend $107,000 on the design phase, with up to $22,000 in “contingency” funds.
Heber City is a financial supporter of KPCW.
