Heber City is welcoming the public to ask questions about the controversial airport expansion. They’re approaching this through a tour and talk.
The event is to address concerns over the airport expansion. The Federal Aviation Administration requires an update to the masterplan because the airport has more than 500 operations a year and is expected to see growth in the years to come.
City officials are keeping the tour and talk casual, answering questions in a hanger with informational posters. City Manager Matt Bower said so far he feels like community members appreciate the efforts.
"The feedback we get is they welcome the opportunity to ask questions about the planning process for going through," Bower said. "And I think the majority of the people leave with at least a better understanding of what the city is trying to do and the regulations we're trying to apply with."
Heber residents will also have the opportunity to explore the site.
"They generally see the airport layout, they see that it's generally a small general aviation airport," he said. "The airport really meets the needs of the local pilot community. They’ll see that we have a pretty amazing Air Museum out there. But overall, it's a lot of open space that would otherwise be developed if it wasn't an airport."
Bower said many community members have never been out to the airport, so people will get an inside look at the property.
"I think the city's done a bad job, quite frankly, in the past, providing opportunities for the public to come and see the airport and actually tour the airport and understand what's out there, I would say that most of the public has never been out there doesn't know what's out there," he said. "And so, that's why we added this tour component to this. It's giving people an opportunity to really see and feel what's out there and what's trying to be accomplished."
There are three upcoming tour and talks scheduled. The next one is Wednesday, May 12 at 10 a.m., the following one is Monday, May 24 at 1 p.m. And on Saturday June 19, the city scheduled a pancake breakfast as part of the event.
Bower added they’ll continue to host them until there’s no more interest from the community.
