Atlas Communications plans to install a 65-foot cell tower along East Center Street in downtown Heber, near the Wasatch County Health Department.
The company says the tower is needed to support increased demand in the rapidly growing Heber Valley. To install the cell tower, the city needs to rezone the site from residential to “institutional and public facilities.” The land is owned by Heber City.
But some residents, like Brent Burnham, are not keen to be neighbors with the tower.
“If you have to rezone property, then it doesn’t belong there,” he told KPCW.
The Heber City Planning Commission will discuss whether to rezone the site at a public hearing May 12. After that, its recommendation heads to the city council for a vote.
Burnham said he’s worried about property values and aesthetics in his neighborhood.
“There are other city properties that would have less impact on residential areas,” he said. “We’re asking for the planning commission and for the city council to identify those areas and to consider the personal, real-life impact this is going to have on us and our lives and our homes.”
Several other neighbors wrote to city staff sharing their opposition to the plans for reasons ranging from the visual impact to potential health concerns.
Burnham said he and his neighbors want the city to consider a different location.
Plans for the cell tower have been in the works for years.
According to meeting materials, the city contemplated a dozen potential sites for the tower, and Atlas looked at many others, mostly along U.S. 40 and at the northern end of downtown.
Most notably, the city and Atlas Communications discussed a location in Valley Hills in 2024 but eventually ruled it out because of problems with property access. That proposal also attracted public opposition.
The planning commission meeting begins at 6 p.m. Tuesday. For the agenda and a link to attend online, visit the city website.
The commission does not make decisions; it can only make recommendations to the city council.
Heber City is a financial supporter of KPCW.
