Heber City Council and planning staff have considered proposed North Village overlay zone changes for a year and some members of the city council are still not ready to pull the trigger and approve the code.
KPCW reports that a couple of the council members want more details. The plan has again been sent back to staff for clarity.
Heber City Council Member Rachel Kahler is concerned with the community impacts of the North Village zone. She says Council Member Heidi Franco shares concerns in adopting the new code.
“And it was just too much for me personally to make a decision on. I've also been concerned that there hasn't been a lot of public input. There haven't been a lot of people in this area that have recognized the impact that this North Village zone is going to do on our community. We have one developer that has over 1400 units that he's requesting on 160 acres. I mean that's a significant high-density development for this open area that we have become so accustomed, that we will see built out in the next 10 to 20 years."
The North Village area is on the east side of Highway 40, near the UVU campus. It runs from Coyote Lane to SR 32. The project proposes townhomes, single-family units, increased student housing, and commercial development.
“And it really is the next step in the growth of our Valley. Not only this North Village but also the Sorenson property that we approved in the early part of the year for the Jordanelle Ridge development.”
In other Heber City Council news, they passed a sign ordinance that eliminates new digital signs. The code is part of Heber’s Dark Skies initiative. Kohler was the lone dissenting vote on the new regulation because she thinks the staff should have communicated more with businesses that use digital signage.
“We are not going to have digital signs on our Main Street in the future. The ones that are there are grandfathered, but if any of those businesses want to update that digital sign will not have that opportunity. That's an unfortunate circumstance of this new ordinance but in a lot of ways our citizens are pushing for better dark sky compliance. And that's where the Council felt like we're listening to our citizens and the input that we received in the Vision 2050 feed-back. and they're saying what can we do to protect our night sky?"
Kahler sits on the Wasatch County Interlocal planning group. Representatives are from Wasatch County Council, municipalities, schools, planning departments, and relevant stakeholders. They consider development impacts on the community and coordinate managing future growth.
