Approximately 100 Heber City residents met Wednesday evening at Heber Valley Elementary school to see the results of the citizen input from the March 20th Public Visioning Workshop. They were shown four scenarios of projected growth for the valley.
Consultant for the project Christie Oostema explains what happened at the public visioning workshop in March.
“We asked people what do you value? You all filled posters with sticky notes expressing your ideas. Answering the question as we grow what do we need to hold onto? Then we also asked well what do you imagine? How should we accommodate anticipated growth? People at the workshop created lots and lots of maps expressing their ideas for the future of Heber. You can see 25 maps created by groups of citizens expressing all kinds of ideas.”
Since that meeting Heber City officials and hired consultants have been working to identify priorities expressed by community members through the 25 maps.
The result is four potential growth scenarios, labeled scenario’s A, B, C and D. You can find maps of these scenarios above.
Feedback provided about trails, open space, shopping, jobs, mobility, parking, existing neighborhoods and future gathering places all contributed to the four scenarios that were created.
Scenario A shows how growth will continue in Heber City and nearby areas if trends continue. The results would be scattered development spread out throughout the valley with shopping and employment mostly located near the edge of current city boundaries.
Scenario B has growth focused primarily along the Highway 40 corridor, with larger lot subdivisions in outlying areas. The jobs would be focused along the corridor and in an office park south of town.
Scenario C has growth focused around six smaller town centers connected by roads and a series of bike trails. The town centers would be located in southeast Heber, downtown, two north village areas, and two areas just south of Jordanelle. This scenario would support open space.
Scenario D would feature permanent preservation of open lands while focusing growth in three centers, a revitalized downtown, another densely developed area near the River Road junction with Highway 40 and a final in the mountain hills located south of the Jordanelle. There would be open space between the three denser areas.
Envision Heber 2050 is now asking citizens to review the proposed scenarios and provide feedback on what aspects they like and dislike through a survey on Envision Heber’s website. Oostema says she expects the survey to remain open for about six weeks. You can find the survey here.
Below is the full presentation from Wednesday evening.
