Recently reelected City Councilor Mike Johnston isn’t originally from Heber City, and he didn’t come to Wasatch County in pursuit of a long-term home.
He spent time in Michigan, Kansas City, New York and other areas across the country before moving to Utah for work in 1993.
“It was just total luck I just ended up here. I was 27 and single, and it was a temporary job in 1993,” he said. “There’s lots of good places to live in this country. … You pick one and you build it up. You help uplift that place that you live and make it better.”
As a city councilor, that’s what he intends to continue doing.
As his first few years on the Heber City Council started to come to a close earlier this year, he initially thought against running for reelection. But as the time to file drew closer, his perspective shifted.
“I thought, ‘You know, I knew a lot coming into it, but my knowledge and my understanding of the city and how this works is so much greater now that I just thought it was kind of a selfish thing just to make that decision myself.”
Instead, he let voters decide if they wanted him to remain on the council.
“If they’ll have me back, then I will serve another four years to the best of my ability,” he said.
They did, and in Heber City’s ranked-choice voting system, voters selected him as the most preferred candidate out of the 11 candidates running.
“I feel honored and appreciative that they trust me,” Johnston said. “I dislike politics. I dislike campaigning. But I really like serving and helping and being part of good things.”
Having observed Heber City and its development for the past 30 years, Johnston is no stranger to the growth the municipality has undergone and will continue to undergo. Like several candidates in the race, he emphasized responsible growth.
The city will continue to grow, he knows. The question he’s considering is how to make sure the gorgeous valley doesn’t morph into one of the lifeless urban sprawls the United States is infamous for, he said.
“Lots of people throw out words like responsible growth,” he said. “They’re generally not willing to actually say what that is. To them, it’s like we’ll slow it down. That’s not responsible or smart growth. It has nothing to do with that.”
Rather, he said, the focus should be on increasing density in areas already developed, adding more diverse and smaller housing options and maintaining the beauty of the valley by preventing suburban sprawl from digesting farmland into half-acre lots.
“It’s the opposite of suburban growth. It’s urban growth. It’s putting 100 families on a piece of road rather than 10 families on a piece of road,” he said. “That actually is what keeps your property taxes lower is density and clustering. … I’m not forcing anybody to live closer together, but we’re giving that option, and that is the future.”
Responsible growth looks like a well-planned city that can accommodate bikers and pedestrians and solid public transit, he said.
“That is not Heber the last 100 years, but it definitely is going to be the Heber the next 100 years. Everything’s going to have to change,” he said. “We’ve done such a terrible job in the United States the last 50 years of sprawl, and the opposite of sprawl is density.”
Johnston’s views have often left him opposed to fellow councilors who fear that such a direction in Heber City would cost the city its small-town atmosphere.
“It’s scary to do something different than we’ve done,” he said. “And I believe in incremental growth. … We are planning ahead. Our plan is a 30-year plan, and honestly it’s really a 50-year plan. But you have to allow neighborhoods to incrementally change.”
Density, he said, is also the only solid way to ensure Heber City can be accessible to people who don’t earn luxurious incomes.
He’s seen private-public partnerships help some individuals, but even affordable homes are becoming less affordable.
If he had to buy his house now to live in Heber City, Johnston said he wouldn’t be able to. He said his college-aged kids won’t be able to live here after their graduations.
“That’s a sad thing, but it is what it is,” he said. “The answer is honestly denser housing options, townhomes and condos.”