© 2024 KPCW

KPCW
Spencer F. Eccles Broadcast Center
PO Box 1372 | 460 Swede Alley
Park City | UT | 84060
Office: (435) 649-9004 | Studio: (435) 655-8255

Music & Artist Inquiries: music@kpcw.org
News Tips & Press Releases: news@kpcw.org
Volunteer Opportunities
General Inquiries: info@kpcw.org
Listen Like a Local Park City & Heber City Summit & Wasatch counties, Utah
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Wasatch County
Heber, Midway and Wasatch County

Incoming Heber City Councilmember Ryan Stack Looks Ahead To Term

Ryan Stack

At the start of the new year, Heber City will have three new councilmembers. Recently elected Councilmember Ryan Stack has a few items top of mind as he begins his term.

During his time on the Heber City Planning Commission, Ryan Stack says his experience has helped him see what the city was doing well and what it could improve on to create a better future for residents.

“What really stuck out to me is how the city just kept playing from behind, in terms of reacting to the growth pressures, reacting to what was happening," Stack said. "I really believe that the city had an opportunity to start becoming more proactive, to not just respond to things, but to get ahead and direct and actually kind of take charge of its own future.”

Stack pointed to growth as the defining issue for Heber City. At the beginning of 2019, the city launched its Envision Heber 2050 planning initiative, to provide an update to the city’s nearly 20-year-old general plan. Stack has participated on the steering committee for Envision Heber. He says the process will wrap up soon.

“We're hoping to have something that the new city council can pass early next year, and that's where the rubber meets the road," Stack said. "That's when we start rewriting our codes to match the vision reflected in the new general plan, and that's going to be where we say, look, this is the trajectory we want to put the city on, and this is the vision we're putting into place, and we're going to say, we're going to stick to this, and this is how we believe we can best manage, direct and influence what's coming into the city.”

For Stack, a successful term on the city council begins with updating the general plan and land management code in the next year.

“Let's make sure that we stick to the general plan, we adopt and hold developers to it and say, we finally have something that reflects our vision for this community," Stack said. "This is what we want to do. This is where we want the growth; this is where we want the open space; this is how we're going to address affordable housing and to continue to work with the public to solicit public input.”

Stack and the other new councilmembers, Rachel Kahler and Mike Johnston, will be sworn in Jan. 7 at 5 p.m., followed immediately by the first council meeting of the year.

Emily Means hadn’t intended to be a journalist, but after two years of studying chemistry at the University of Utah, she found her fit in the school’s communication program. Diving headfirst into student media opportunities, Means worked as a host, producer and programming director for K-UTE Radio as well as a news writer and copy editor at The Daily Utah Chronicle.