State data shows Wasatch County is in for some significant demographic shifts.
“Since about the turn of the century, we were averaging about 4-6%, which is an extremely high growth rate,” county planner Austin Corry said. “Kem C. Gardner’s projections are showing that slowing down to around 2% for the next 30 years. At that 2% growth rate, you’re still looking at about double what the state average is.”
He spoke at an interlocal meeting Wednesday, April 15, where leaders from across the Heber Valley discussed how they’re planning for the future.
Corry said the median age will change, too: from 35 years old to almost 50 over the next three decades.
With the rapidly changing community in mind, he said the county is revising its land use policies as part of a general plan update.
“The last comprehensive general plan was done in 2001,” he said. “It was before the Olympics; it was before the Jordanelle Parkway was built; it was before MIDA came to town and before COVID-19.”
He said the guidelines are meant to prevent sprawl, protect open space and ensure developed land is used appropriately. He also stressed the importance of regional collaboration, such as ensuring transportation infrastructure serves residents of all incomes and lifestyles.
Heber City’s community development director, Tony Kohler, shared a closer look at how many homes are planned for construction.
“A lot of our growth is going to be centered in the North Village area along the north Highway 40,” he said. “We’re going to see a lot of changes in the coming decade.”
Several thousand homes are planned for the Jordanelle Ridge development, although Kohler says the total number will be smaller than the 5,700 units originally proposed.
In Midway, development is a very different story. Planning director Michael Henke said the number of land use applications is dropping because little land is available. The town has also prioritized open space preservation.
“We have talked about expanding our annexation declaration even into the North Fields, and part of that is so we can use our open space bond funds to help preserve those areas, not necessarily that they would actually develop,” he said.
At 1,200 square miles, Wasatch County has more land than the state of Rhode Island. Corry said nearly 70% of that land is controlled by the state or federal government, and about 7% is part of a city or town. The rest is unincorporated county land.
A draft of Wasatch County’s new land use plan is expected later this spring.
