Around 40 people gathered at the Wasatch County government building Tuesday night, April 8, to learn more about River View, a town proposed by a few landowners in the North Fields.
Mark Wilson, the primary sponsor of the proposed town, said he’s most concerned with protecting his property rights.
“We found that the county couldn’t protect us, and we found ourselves fighting the same battle that our founding fathers fought themselves over 250 years ago,” he said. “They were fighting against taxation without representation. Today, we’re fighting the same battle: annexation without representation.”
Wilson said he’s concerned about Heber City annexing around 95 acres for the North Village developments and worries more of the North Fields could be pulled into Heber too.
He said incorporating would also give North Fields landowners more say in how the Heber Valley’s water supply is used.
And he said he wants the Utah Department of Transportation to give those landowners a voice in conversations about the bypass.
“All we want is a seat around the table, to be equal,” he said.
Some locals in attendance, like Sarah Provost, said they were caught off guard by Wilson’s plan.
“To hear everybody’s equal, and then to find out we’re essentially forced to incorporate and didn’t know anything about it – I feel like that’s not a great way to start this incorporation,” she said.
Wilson and a handful of other homeowners first applied to incorporate as River View last fall. At the time, they lacked enough valid signatures to move the proposal forward.
They filed a new application in January, and in March, state officials granted their request for a feasibility study.
Wilson fielded questions from his neighbors for more than half an hour after the meeting ended, going into detail about water shares and the bypass route options.
He said he doesn’t want the proposed town to cause any division in the community.
“We want to be friends with everyone,” he said. “If somebody wants out, we’ll be friendly to them. If somebody wants in, we’ll be friendly to them.”
Residents within or near the proposed borders now have 30 days to opt in or out of incorporation.
Only “specified landowners” can ask to be excluded if the map includes their property – they must own at least 1% of the land value within the boundaries or at least 10% of the private land area, and excluding their land can’t create an island within the proposed town.
Anyone with land in unincorporated Wasatch County that’s contiguous with the River View map can request to be included.
All requests for inclusion or exclusion must be sent to the county clerk’s office by May 8.
The next step in the incorporation process is a feasibility study, as Jordan Schwanke explained. He’s the local entities specialist in the lieutenant governor’s office.
“It’s pretty much a study that will give an overarching analysis of the financial feasibility or viability of the area,” he said. “Feasibility means the potential revenues exceed potential costs of incorporation by more than 5%.”
If an outside consultant finds River View is feasible, there will be a second public hearing. After that, Wilson and his fellow sponsors will gather signatures to put the town on the ballot.
To learn more about the incorporation process, or to find forms to request inclusion or exclusion, visit the lieutenant governor's website.
