The Heber Valley Pickleball Club, Community Alliance for Main Street and Jordanelle Ridge developer all came away from Tuesday’s city council meeting with support for their projects.
The council voted unanimously to approve five public infrastructure districts, called PIDs, within the development that’s adding thousands of homes to the Jordanelle area.
“This is very huge,” said Mayor Heidi Franco about the implications the decision would have on future construction in the Jordanelle area.
As new taxing entities, the districts allow the developer to take out loans to pay for new public facilities and infrastructure up front. With the PID structure, future property owners in those districts pay back those loans through their property taxes for decades to come.
Last month, community members representing the Wasatch Dance Center, Timpanogos Valley Theater and Wasatch High School said they supported creating the districts. That’s because one of the projects the districts could fund is a $15 million performing arts center, including an amphitheater, park and rehearsal space.
On Tuesday, however, most of the packed audience turned out to be the pickleball club.
As club member Lynne Harms explained, the game has become so popular, players have to wait to get onto courts. So the club wants to add six courts to the Southfield Park facility. According to Wasatch County Parks and Recreation, that addition would cost nearly $300,000.
Harms asked for $40,000 from Heber City. The club hopes to get that same amount from Midway and $140,000 from the county, and to fundraise $80,000 on its own by October.
The council couldn’t make an official pledge at the meeting because of procedural rules, but all five members supported the idea.
“Why are you setting your sights so small?” Councilor Scott Phillips said. “Let’s [build something to rival] the cathedral of pickleball in our little valley and build at least 24 courts.”
At those comments the audience burst into a big round of applause. The council decided to bring the item back for a decision next Wednesday.
Also at the meeting, Chairman of the Community Alliance for Main Street Tom Stone asked the council for $40,000 to contribute to a water fountain next to City Hall. He and Vice President of Splash Pads USA Rick Funk described it as a place for community members to gather and where kids could play safely in the water.
This project also brought out a strong showing of residents in support, most of them from the Heber City Leadership Academy, which is also sponsoring the water feature.
The council also expressed support for that idea and agreed to figure out how to pay for it at a future meeting.
