Developer Russ Watts is making plans to build 230 apartments and an 89-unit “affordable hotel” on about 9 acres of land near Wasatch High School. He presented plans to the Wasatch County School District Board of Education Tuesday.
The development, called Celebration, is meant to provide housing for local workers, including teachers and first responders. Phase 1 of 3 includes 140 units, half of which would be rented at market rate. The other half would be rented at 40%-65% of the Area Median Income.
Watts says he needs local government and school district support to make the development a reality. The Heber City Council voted in December to support the development by deferring around $3.1 million in impact fees. Watts said the Wasatch Housing Authority is also investing $750,000.
Now, Watts is asking the district to lease part of its property to the development so it can add more parking. It would add almost 180 parking stalls to Wasatch High School’s lot.
“We can add more parking because we know parking there's always a good challenge, and that way we can share it, we can use it and we don't take up more land,” Watts said. “We actually are smarter in how we use the land. We have shared parking day and night.”
Watts said Celebration would cover the cost of the new parking and the development and would split maintenance costs with the district going forward. As part of the partnership, Watts said around 50 units in the development would be reserved for Wasatch teachers.
However, board member Brad Ehlert wasn’t sure the development is what teachers want. He has family members who are first responders who are looking to own, not rent.
“If they rent, they're transient,” he said. “So what they were looking for is the ability to ultimately own a place, which is why they ended up looking outside the valley, and they ended up getting jobs elsewhere because of that.”
Watts said there is an ongoing discussion about making Phase 2 units ownable.
Board President Kim Dickerson and board member Breanne Dedrickson weren't sure about entering into a public-private partnership.
“I do have some concerns that I want to flesh out further about mixing public money to benefit private industry,” Dedrickson said. “So if the answer is no, what would the next steps be?”
“We just, we wouldn’t do the project,” Watts said.
Watts said all parties need to be on board for the development to be built.
Watts will collaborate with district staff over the next couple of months to flesh out a proposed agreement regarding leasing district property. It’s unclear when the board will consider the proposal again.
