Development is booming at Deer Valley East Village and in the Jordanelle Basin, with thousands of new homes and hotel rooms slated for construction.
Wasatch County councilmembers said at their recent strategic retreat that they expect the growth, especially the new resort destinations, to reshape the county.
County Manager Dustin Grabau said on KPCW’s "Local News Hour" Tuesday, April 1, that he and other leaders are planning for the high-level impacts of the new developments, from traffic to housing.
“It’s really just grappling with the reality of it,” he said. “We’ve been planning on it for decades, but now that it’s here, it’s coming to grips with, well, what does this mean? How do we minimize the negative impacts and maximize the positive ones?”
He said the East Village area is projected to have “an incredible amount of economic activity,” with major spikes in tax revenue expected.
“I think for Wasatch County, this might end up being something similar to the Kimball Junction area – as far as the tax impact that it has on Summit County, this would have an impact on Wasatch County,” he said. “All of the county-wide sales taxes apply in this area. That means that our EMS sales tax that voters approved is going to grow as this area comes online, as is our TAP tax – trails, arts and parks – we’re going to be able to do more with those things because of the economic activity in this area.”
He acknowledged a tourist-based economy requires large numbers of workers and a corresponding supply of affordable housing. Grabau said Wasatch County is looking north to learn from how Park City manages its resort economy.
“I think we have the benefit of trying to learn from some of Park City’s experiences, and I think we also have the opportunity to make our own mistakes, for better or for worse, on some of these issues,” he said.
He said the county is working to ensure affordable housing is constructed and the regional transportation network is strengthened.
“Standing up our transportation network with High Valley Transit is one of the ways in which we’re trying to do that preemptively, so we can establish those good connections,” he said. “We’ve been proactive on the bypass – we think getting workers up from Utah County is going to be an important part of how we get people in and out of that area.”
Currently, there’s one fixed bus route between Park City and Heber, High Valley’s 106 commuter schedule.
Wasatch County recently added a new 0.3% sales tax to most purchases, excluding gas and groceries, to go toward improved public transit. Leaders have said they intend to use the funds to increase the 106’s frequency, add accessible transit options and enhance micro-transit availability within the Heber Valley.
In the longer term, leaders have discussed more ambitious possibilities such as adding a commuter route between Heber and Provo.
