Over 100 Heber residents crammed into the Heber Police Department on Wednesday evening to provide additional feedback about the Heber Valley Corridor Study and the preferred route identified by the study which would reroute US 189 along 1300 South in Heber impacting the neighborhoods on the south end of town.
The large majority of citizens at the meeting were opposed to the re-alignment of US 189 as part of the current proposed route for the parkway.
Heber City Manager Matt Brower began the evening with a presentation that overviewed the history of the parkway project and the need for some form of a bypass. Brower then moderated questions from the audience which were answered by a panel of representatives from Wasatch County, Heber City, Heber Airport Advisory Committee, UDOT, Mountainland Association of Government.
One resident who lives in the 1300 South area, Brady Flygare, read a joint statement he says was prepared by over 25 community members. The statement in part condemned the city and county for their lack of position on a preferred route.
In a joint statement published on Wednesday before the community forum Wasatch County Council Chair and Heber City Mayor said that both councils have not taken a position on a preferred route.
At the Wednesday meeting Wasatch County Council Chair Danny Goode changed his position. Goode stood at the meeting and said that the county is not in favor of the proposed realignment of 189. That statement was met with cheers from the audience.
Heber City Mayor Kelleen Potter said that the City Council was waiting for more results on the study before providing a statement on the proposed realignment. She says they likely will have one in a few weeks.
“The council has not taken a stand on the study yet,” Potter said. “I do think after hearing from all the public that that is most likely going to take place at some point, but it's still in play right now as we wait to hear the results. There were so many comments that came in and they were consolidating those and categorizing them. I think once all of that comes back then the council will be able to hear all of that and make a statement.”
Some have voiced concern that the re-alignment of 189 is related to a potential expansion of the airport. Airport Advisory Committee member Mike Duggin clarified his personal position of being opposed to expansion of the airport. He also stated that the airport has not requested the re-alignment of 189 but if the re-alignment were to happen that would be considered as part of the Airport Master Plan update.
Flygare argues that he doesn’t want to give the airport committee the opportunity to consider the impacts of re-aligning 189. He adds some other arguments against the re-alignment.
“The new route that they proposed there has to be an easement or a space along that corridor,” Flygare continued. “The current highway 189 which doesn't have that space that was grandfathered in, so it doesn't need to have that extra easement on the edges. So there's about 10 to 12 acres additional acres that would need to be taken up to do this new proposed route that they have with the roundabout. The second thing is the safety concerns. I mean of course safety and the noise and the pollution. There are parks, family homes, churches, this current route borders these neighborhoods they want to run these diesels 55 miles an hour you know 70 feet behind homes. Our community I think they were pretty supportive of the bypass route using an existing highway 189 and the Southfield road. This new route was proposed in February just caught everybody off guard there's just significant push back on it. Within that quarter of mile area, which is the noise area, I mean there's about 350 residences there. It would have a devastating effect on that area.”
Flygare said that by the end of the meeting he was pleased with the results.
UDOT Region 3 Communications Manager Geoff Dupaix says that they will take citizen comments, Heber City Council, and Wasatch County Council recommendations all into consideration.
“We are going to take a look at additional options just because nothing is set in stone at this point,” Dupaix explained. “So, we're going to take a look at the feedback that we got, and we’ll look at some additional options and then move those forward as part of the environmental work that’s still needed. That's that more in depth analysis that's required to identify exactly what the solution could look like and how the area would be affected from the natural environment as well as social impact economic impact. Impact to residents and businesses. We understand that this is an emotional issue and so we want to make sure that whatever solutions are identified that this is something that will be a benefit to the community, to the county, and to the city. That area is going to continue to grow, it can be a difficult, challenging process; but it's one that’s really important for the future of the Heber Valley.”
UDOT Project Manager Jeremy Bown said that there will be a terminology change from recommended route to something like suggested alternatives. Bown said they may show up to three alternatives and those changes could be presented in a future community forum.
