The land for the new high school in Wasatch County is set for construction after Heber City cleared an administrative hurdle, to the chagrin of a neighbor.
Years in the making, the school site annexation in Heber City is now final. The city council voted 3 to 1 Tuesday to add roughly 50 acres west of downtown to city limits for the school.
Plans there call for a new main campus and athletic facilities, including a gym complex, tennis courts and fields for football, soccer, baseball, softball, and track and field. If the Legislature approves state funding, a new Mountainland Technical College will be built just south of the high school facilities.
Councilmember Yvonne Barney voted against the annexation, and Ryan Stack said he had a conflict of interest and abstained from voting. Barney noted the complaint of a neighbor who spoke at the meeting and said the inclusion of new athletic facilities is excessive.
John Scheid lives north of the planned soccer fields on the corner of 600 West, which is a dirt road, and 500 North. He said the plan to build a paved intersection there infringes on his property, will force him to move his driveway and will cut off his irrigation system.
“I’ve got property there that right now, people use 600 West as a place to walk, run and jog. People come out there with their kids to learn how to drive,” he said. “I think I would have a problem with, all of a sudden, being boxed in with a bunch of cars parking on my front yard, so to speak.”
He also worried the traffic would bring speeding drivers and litter.
City Engineer Russell Funk and Paul Berg, the third-party engineer for the site plan, said they had already made compromises to the intersection. They said the impact to the Scheid property is unavoidable to accommodate the athletic fields.
That’s because roads have to be at least 38 feet wide to allow parking, and there are other homes on the other corners of the intersection.
As the council approved the designs, Councilmember Mike Johnston asked the planners to meet with the Scheids to consider additional compromises.
“I still think there’s some room — I think we’re close enough,” he said. “They understand our position. It’s a huge change for them, and I would just like to keep that dialogue going. There may be some things we can still tweak. Maybe it’s a foot, maybe it’s two feet.”
By annexing its land into Heber City limits, the school district gained access to city services, such as sewer lines.
The school district plans to begin construction of the new campus in spring 2023 and open in time for the 2025 to 2026 school year.
Over the summer, the Wasatch County School District Board of Education approved $150 million in loans to pay for the project. In addition, a facilities study held during the year before recommended building a new elementary school within 10 years and middle school within 20.
