The Utah Department of Transportation’s Heber Valley Corridor project — also known as the western bypass — may face a new road bump as a portion of land that sits in all of their route alternatives will now be preserved.
Wasatch County Council voted 6-1 to spend almost $2.3 million to preserve about 170 acres in the North Fields on Wednesday despite UDOT Project Manager Craig Hancock’s warning to Heber City Council that the department would take it as a sign of a nonunified community.
During Heber City Council’s March 5 meeting, UDOT Project Manager Craig Hancock made it clear that if Wasatch County Council passed funding the easement, it would complicate the process of acquiring land for the Heber Valley bypass and put UDOT in a position they didn’t want to be in.
“The decision about conservation easements is a big decision. We can certainly talk through … UDOT’s perspective (tonight),” Hancock said at the meeting.
He talked about how each alternative route UDOT is currently considering would cut through several plots the county council was then still considering protecting via purchasing land easements.
Mountainlands Association of Governments’ recent traffic study left the department in “a little bit of a holding pattern on this decision,” he said.
“We were getting close to releasing the draft purpose and need last year,” he said. “MAG updated the travel demand model, which is the basis for all of our alternative analyses and the assumptions that we made. That new model, as we started looking into it … from the initial new version of the model that we got, we found that there was more volume on North 40 than what we initially assumed.”
While he acknowledged that the updated model is not entirely complete, he said it was enough to show UDOT that three of their five considered alternatives — the three that utilized U.S. 40 north of Heber City rather than routing through the valley’s North Fields — would not adequately address the community’s growing traffic demand.
“We felt it was important to pause for a minute and really understand what the new model is telling us,” he said. “It’s likely that we’re going to need to address the three alternatives that used the North 40 section, modify that.”
The increased need, he said, comes from several factors, such as Heber City’s expansion on the east side of U.S. 40 north of the main town as well as the state’s Military Installation Development Authority’s project next to the Jordanelle.
When Mayor Heidi Franco asked how significant the traffic increase in MAG’s updated model would be, he said he didn’t have the numbers handy, but it would be significant enough to warrant changes.
“It wasn’t a little amount,” he said.
The mayor asked if that would that mean redrawing the alternatives’ route lines.
Possibly, Hancock answered.
Councilor Yvonne Barney pushed him on whether he was saying the route would need to cut through the North Fields, something she’s stated her thoughts against. She said she hears from numerous constituents who would oppose such a plan.
Hancock specified that while the other routes may need to be edited to accommodate the higher volume of traffic than UDOT originally planned for, none of the five routes are completely off the table.
He did, however, warn the council that if the county council voted to contribute their needed funds to purchase easements from Laren Gertsch — a property owner with a large plot of the North Fields who’s worked with county officials and the Utah Open Lands Board to attempt to preserve his land — it could put UDOT in a tricky situation.
“Putting roadblocks, perceived or otherwise, would put UDOT in a position where we would be going against the intentions of the county or the city or the community,” Hancock said. “That’s a position we don’t want to be in. We want to be working with the community, not against it.”
Mike Johnston asked if its preservation would have any unintended consequences.
“I just want to clearly understand, what are the legal implications if we do this?” he asked.
It would be a “significant barrier,” Hancock said.
“I don’t know to what extent that would be,” he continued, “but it would be a barrier to UDOT and would send a mixed message to UDOT that the community is not fully supportive of the process we’re in.”
Mayor Heidi Franco said the land would need to be condemned by UDOT with an easement or without it, and Gertsch had waited three years for funding opportunities to line up correctly for the preservation.
Moreover, she added, the county isn’t necessary for the easement.
“What’s the difference between condemning land that has a conservation easement or then putting the road in and trying to put conservation easements around it?” she asked.
“It’s just our concern of wanting to work, you know, be in step with the community,” Hancock said.
Throughout the discussion, councilors Yvonne Barney and Aaron Cheatwood also let Hancock know they were frustrated with the length of the process.
Still, several Heber City Councilors brought UDOT’s concerns to the county’s meeting with worries that the council’s decision to provide the funds for the conservation easement could further delay the already-delayed Heber Valley Corridor project.
While Cheatwood mentioned his personal support of the bypass during the public hearing and Franco and Barney remained in strong support of the county partially funding the easement, others worried it could be problematic if it delays a possible solution that would remove some of the heavy traffic that currently clouds Main Street.
“From Heber’s perspective, from my perspective, particularly Midway Lane, you have all five alternatives going through that same area,” Heber City Manager Matt Brower said. “That’s problematic because that is an important area where that bypass is potentially going to cross Midway Lane.”
How would the easement affect UDOT’s funding, he asked. “Do you spend taxpayer money purchasing an easement that we know is going to potentially be in alignment?”
Johnston said density is coming, and the best place to mitigate traffic is west of town, where UDOT bypass routes are planned. He said he and other councilors agree with preserving the North Fields but emphasized the need for the bypass.
“I want to put a few rumors to bed that I heard even recently as last night that somehow somebody and some people in the city council want to annex between Highway 40 and the bypass,” he said. “That is absolutely, 100% false.”
Councilor Sid Ostergaard agreed.
“Heber City wants to preserve the North Fields. You have to realize that,” he said. “Second thing, we need to get Main Street back to us, and the only way we can do that is through the bypass.”
Franco, who also serves as chair of the Wasatch Open Lands Board, strongly supported the county’s participation in the Gertsch easement despite UDOT’s recommendations.
“We didn’t come this far just to make a presentation to you tonight,” she said. “We encourage you to approve the funding of this proposed easement and help preserve what the majority of the citizens want in our county.”
She also commended Gertsch for contributing over $3 million to the conservation project.
“I made a commitment to put in a conservation easement, and so that’s why we’re here following through on that commitment,” Gertsch said. “We’ve been ranchers and farmers for all of our lives and generations. Both of my grandfathers — their great-grandfathers actually — immigrated from Switzerland in the 1860s and came to Midway and eventually we moved to the North Fields. We are interested in honoring their legacy, probably our own legacy of our future generations, and we have many good friends in this community, and we think that this is something that would be a benefit to them.”
He also said the conservation should not be a surprise to UDOT as conversations about the process began years ago.
“I guess we want to continue to be ranchers and farmers,” he said. “We can do that in this way.”
His comments were followed by a lengthy period of applause, then a slew of members of the public who spoke in support of the easement.
County Councilor Luke Searle was the lone vote in opposition. Councilors agreed to invite a UDOT representative to speak with the legislative body.
Speaking with The Park Record, Heber City Councilor Scott Phillips said he believes the county made the best decision with the information they have.
“The council was asking the right questions,” he said. “They made it clear that they want to work with UDOT.”
Cheatwood said he was happy with the county council’s decision, and he hopes Heber Valley residents will reach out to UDOT to plead with them for a faster timeline.
“I’m overjoyed to see landowners willing to put forth the work and effort to seek easements. I’m excited to see a multi-generational agriculture family be able to continue that livelihood,” he said. “I’m frustrated with delays by UDOT and with infrequent updates to the public about the process. I’m concerned that bypass options will only get more limited as we wait longer.”
Barney stated her belief that the preservation of the North Fields should be left up to the county and that other entities should respect their decision.
“What a positive outcome last night was for the many individuals who have worked tirelessly for several years to protect what 70% of Wasatch County residents have deemed a top priority. While it may seem to the media, some Heber City officials and possibly UDOT that this decision was made in some way with hasty disregard for UDOT’s process, I personally feel that could not be further from the truth,” she said. “It was a group of elected officials making a hard decision to listen and respect the overwhelming wishes of their constituents and a local landowner’s request.
They in essence were listening to the citizens who elected them.”