A Smith’s Marketplace proposal in Heber City got a preliminary go-ahead from the planning commission.
While more steps remain before final approval, an engineer says construction could begin next spring.
The Heber City Planning Commission approved the concept and lot boundaries for the proposed Smith’s Marketplace Tuesday.
The Marketplace would be part of the New London Development, a 35-acre project that would also add housing, retail and office units along U.S. Highway 40.
The new Smith’s would be located about halfway between the existing Smith’s grocery store and the Back 40 Grill. It would involve building a new road, to be called 900 North. Depending on the findings of a traffic study by the Utah Department of Transportation, it could require a new traffic light and left-turn lanes.
“It’s not clear if there’s going to be a traffic light there, although that is what everybody’s shooting for,” Heber City Planner Tony Kohler said. “UDOT still hasn’t finalized their review. Certainly, the number of traffic lanes going left to right are determined by the traffic study that’s been done. You know, your big-box stores and retail centers do produce a lot of traffic.”
The approval granted in Tuesday’s meeting only covered some aspects of the full project and is just one step in a long process.
“It’s a very general approval that’s approved the basics of the site like setbacks, general parking, general building size, and then they will come back in the next month with more finalized plans updating the elevations to meet the code. In their final approval, they’ll have their final elevations and further information as to what the intersection is going to look like and the site,” Kohler said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Troy Wolverton of the engineering firm working on the project said the goal is to begin construction next spring. Wolverton is a manager with Anderson Wahlen & Associates out of Salt Lake City.
Before final approval is on the table, Kohler said city staff plan to tweak aesthetics so any new development fits in with Heber’s character.
“Overall, we have some good ideas, I think, to sit down with Smith’s and see what we can do to make some good improvements,” he said. “We definitely want this to feel like Heber, and what we have now is a lot better than where we started, but I think the changes we make here in the next couple of weeks will bring us even closer to what Heber is supposed to feel like.”
Heber City planners do not know what would happen to the Smith's grocery store building if the Marketplace is built.
The planning commission meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month. The next meeting is scheduled for October 12.
