Wasatch County Council Seat B is on the ballot this November. The incumbent, Republican Steve Farrell wants another four years.
KPCW is interviewing Farrell’s challenger Democratic Candidate Aimee Armer on Tuesday, October 20 at 8:30 during the Local News Hour.
Farrell has grown up in the Heber Valley and he says for that reason, his understanding of the issues sets him apart from his opponent.
“I think I bring a lot of local knowledge and experience. I grew up on a dairy farm in Midway and I've worked here all my life. I've been heavily involved community activities and different organizations in the community. And I think I know what the community wants. I think we want to hold on to the character and lifestyles and that's what I've been working on while I’ve been on the council, with the open space committee, trying to get bonding to buy open space to keep some of our valley floor open and I think that’s the direction I’d like keep going.”
Farrell believes the existing master planning and ordinances in place are adequate to meet the growth pressures in Wasatch County. He is confident the sensitive land, ridgeline development and slope ordinances are solid and will help preserve the rural lifestyle he says his constituents want to maintain.
“We established the water board for any improvements of development is looked at. They have to prove they’ve got adequate water and they won't infringe on the rights of others. And when they created the North Village Special Service District and the Jordanelle Special Service District, a lot of density was given, but that density will probably never materialize because it's not physically possible to meet that much growth.”
Farrell is opposed to the Wasatch County town of Hideout annexing 350 acres of Summit County so they can create a commercial development that would provide a needed tax base. He says Hideout is dependent on the Jordanelle Special Services District for their water and sewar and the original developer wasn’t interested in the Wasatch general plan which requires mixed use development. He says the town and developer have not reached out to the county to work together on regional planning.
“I think we could do a better job for some regional planning. You remember back when Hideout was developed. They developed because they didn’t’ like the Wasatch County general plan and because we had mixed use and commercial mixed in with their residential. And the developer at that time wanted all residential because that's where the fast money was.”
Farrell supports the Governor’s new COVID-19 Risk Assessment which has put Wasatch County into a high- risk category. This means masks must be worn in public, people must practice six feet of social distancing and social gatherings must be limited to 10 or fewer people.
Farrell says he is proud of the work he’s done to preserve open space with the passage of the bond last year and the conservation work in the Heber Valley.
“I’ve been working on some regional planning and we’re going to now get all the municipalities and the county together once a month to review the different projects and how it will affect adjacent entities. We’ve been working on the bypass road for a number of years and it is moving forward and hopefully we can find some way to alleviate the traffic issues.”
As home prices continue to climb in Wasatch County, Farrell acknowledges affordable housing is a big challenge.
“So, we can get essential workers a place to live and we've been working through that Housing Authority and using some of that money for down payment assistance programs. We were looking at them on some of these large developments like the Mayflower requiring workforce housing on site.”
Farrell says he doesn’t favor the tax incentive given to the Mayflower area Military Installation Development Authority/Extell project, but felt it was necessary.
“And we needed something to kick start the growth on the Jordanelle Basin and hopefully this will do it. I don't like a tax incentive it to actually send it but sometimes you have to do it in order to get things going.”
That’s Steve Farrell who is on the Wasatch County Council and running for re-election to council seat B.
