The Heber City Planning Commission granted final plat approval for the Turner Mill mixed-use project at its Tuesday evening meeting.
The 35-acre project is located on the south end of town at 1550 South Highway 40, mostly behind the K&T Silver Eagle gas station. The proposed mixed-use project would consist of 50 townhomes, 34 motor court homes, and 32 cottage lots.
One planning commissioner, Dennis Gunn, expressed concerns regarding the developers’ drafts of the project and what it could end up becoming.
“I think we can see what their desire is and I think their desire is completely opposite of what the people of this valley have said they wanted to see,” he said. “I’m very sensitive to what the people have been saying. Each time we see this, it gets tighter and tighter instead of going the way that it was originally discussed.”
Dustin Holt, co-founder of developer dbURBAN, explains that when the property received its zone change through the city council they also received some other restrictions on the property.
"At no time on all of that will there be more than 400 residential dwelling units,” Holt said. “That is a document that was recorded and has recorded this entire parcel right now as part of the re-zone. So it does exist; it is there. I don’t think we’re feeding you a line, I continue to believe we’re not feeding you a line. We fully expect to adhere to everything in this when we come back with plans for the parcels that we’re asking for tonight.”
Planning commissioner Oscar Covarrubias said the commission should grant the final plat approval in order to get into specifics in future meetings.
“Then we’ll put our hats on at that time and we’ll do what we need to do to be able to represent what the adjacent properties are saying,” Covarrubias said. “I just feel like we’re going to waste their time and try to come back to them. I would hate to go ahead and delay this process of development just because we don’t agree right now on what the development is going to be.”
