The Wasatch County Fire District board wants to build three new fire stations. To do that, it hopes to levy an impact fee to raise the funds needed for construction. If approved, future developers would fund stations in Heber City and the Jordanelle area through new fees. The board will hold a public hearing on the plan next month.
Wasatch County Fire Chief Ernie Giles says the district’s already mixed out with its four existing buildings, and demand’s only going up. An analysis presented at Tuesday’s board meeting suggested that within a decade, the district could be receiving about 1,000 more calls every year.
“The crazy part is, it’s going to raise our budget,” Giles says. “It takes more personnel, more equipment as these new subdivisions come in. It’s busy - more people just means more calls for us.”
The impact fee study presented to the board Tuesday estimates the county population will increase from 33,000 to 48,000 between 2020 and 2030. It calls for building a station in southern Heber City by 2023, and the Jordanelle stations by 2025 and 2028.
The new Heber station would house administrative offices, which are now at the Jordanelle location.
“Response time is a big thing; that’s kind of our number 1 priority of getting this station,” Giles says. “Where it’s located, it’s in the vicinity of the hospital and several senior buildings where, actually, some senior citizens are at.”
In addition to improving response times, the new location will also cut down insurance costs by being close to the hospital and senior center.
The new fee would replace a 2020 impact fee, which the district used to buy land for the future Heber station.
Those fees are one-time charges developers must pay when building new construction. The charge per new house is yet to be determined but won’t exceed about $900, or $850 for a multi-family home. Commercial development would be charged based on square footage.
The public hearing about the new impact fee is scheduled for Tuesday, March 8 at 6 p.m. at the Wasatch County Administration Building at 25 North Main Street in Heber. The district will vote on the fee immediately after the hearing. If it’s approved, the fee will take effect after 90 days.
