Wasatch County Council Seat D candidate Tori Broughton is hoping that, if elected, she will be able to shake things up a bit.

As an incumbent candidate with 20 years as councilor under his belt, her opponent, Kendall Crittenden, boasts his experience and in-depth knowledge of issues as a reason community members should keep him on the council. Broughton, on the other hand, has only lived in Wasatch County for a few years. Quickly after arriving, she dove headfirst into local politics and thinks if she’s elected she can potentially disrupt what she described a “groupthink” among longstanding couniclors.

The third candidate in the race, longtime local and politically active Jami Hewlett, did not respond to questions about her campaign.

Broughton’s fresh perspective has left her with platforms that, in at least some key areas, vary from Critten’s views and priorities.

Preserving Public Open Space

In her hopes of preserving open space within Wasatch County, Broughton added that she wants to make sure people area aware of whether or not space preserved with county tax dollars is publicly available or not. Several previous projects pursued by the county’s Open Lands Board have sought easements in the North Fields to purchase development rights from privately owned agricultural land without public access. The county has agreed to invest millions in the process.

“I don’t know that everyone values private open space as much as they value open space,” Broughton said.

She seeks to clarify the conversation so people can better understand what land is being preserved. 

“I personally feel like the majority of tax dollars should be going to open space tha tis going to be at some point available for the public to access,” Broughton said. “Everybody’s pro-open space, but there are definitely some specific situations where it’s different than I think what people understand.”

Congestion on Main Street

Like many in the county, Broughton is frustrated with local governments’ level of communication with the Utah Department of Transportation regarding their much-delayed Heber Valley Corridor.

Though the department has upped its communication with Heber City and Wasatch County Councilors in recent weeks, Broughton feels as though there wasn’t a “common thread.”

She hopes being elected and seeing the inside view will help her make sense of the situation, but she’s currently confused about a lack of direction. The added discussions, she said, haven’t seemed to produce anything new.

“It feels like the best politicians in this whole group are the folks at UDOT,” she said.

If elected, she hopes to help Heber Valley governments unify in their communications with UDOT and further learn what needs to happen.

And, even if the bypass isn’t the solution to getting heavy traffic of of Heber City’s Main Street, she wants to explore if there are other methods the community can pursue to dissuade drivers from using the national passage.

Community Reinvestment Agency

Seat D covers a significant portion of Heber City that city leaders are working to develop into a more pedestrian-friendly, commercially successful downtown. 

While Heber City leaders are seeking tax increment financing from Wasatch County to help with a tax base in the area to fund a Community Reinvestment Agency through tax increment funding — something that won’t cost them anything from the current tax revenue they make in the location but will take 75% of any increased revenue they gain in the area — Broughton supports their proposition, whether the decision will be made by the end of the year as Heber City hopes or not.

Broughton said she’s heard from people who believe the agency takes away from other entities.

“That’s simply not the case,” she said. “It really seems like it’s a net positive for everybody, and every entity here in the valley could do their own CRA and benefit in the same way Heber is hoping to.”

Broughton also seeks to further promote attainable housing within Heber Valley so people who work in the community can live there, though she recognizes the best place for it may be within Heber City limits. The CRA she supports does have an allotment of funding that would go toward affordable housing.

If she’s elected, she wants to be able to look back at the four-year term having been a part of the initiative to help local governments within Heber Valley become more united and work together in “a valley of unity.”

“I’m not saying that I would accomplish that on my own, but I would be really proud to say I was a part of that,” she said. “That would be number one.”

She also wants to make life better for those in her district in a way they can notice.

“More amenities for our kids to do here, more things for kids to do at our parks,” she said. “We just need something for kids to do that’s accessible.”

The third accomplishment she’d like to look back on: finding better solutions to Wasatch County’s landfill.

“It’s crazy to me that couches and tree branches get thrown in the same space and then we haul that off somewhere else,” she said. 

She wants to find something more fiscally responsible and sustainable.