Infamous by Heber City residents’ standards, the North Village development annexation petition came to a close this week with the City Council’s 4-1 approval Tuesday of the development agreements. Yvonne Barney was the sole vote in opposition.
Located near the intersection of S.R. 32 and U.S. 40, the North Village Crossings and Harvest Village properties include the construction of residential, commercial and hotel units, plus a gas station on the Crossings side.
Heber City Council originally approved the annexation petition on Dec. 17, but that approval was contingent on the development agreements. City councilors, project developers and the city attorney, Jeremy Cook, ironed out the development agreement details over the course of January. Now, Councilor Scott Phillips said developers are likely to get the ball rolling on construction.
“I’m sure we will see some shovels in the ground up on that hillside probably pretty soon,” Phillips said.
Councilor Aaron Cheatwood succeeded in his request to up the fee-in lieu for affordable housing with both Harvest Village and Crossings developments to $40,000 and $60,000, respectively. Cheatwood and Phillips said that fee-in lieu will help the city gain more control over what kind of affordable housing is constructed over the coming years.
“Instead of a developer just building 60 units of affordable housing, which is what they would be required to do, it makes a lot of sense to me that the city uses those funds to buy ground and make it more of a perpetual fund versus a one-time shop,” Phillips said.
The idea of developing the tip of the North Fields has not been popular with residents or council members. In October, Councilor Mike Johnston said that no matter if Heber City annexes the tip of the North Fields or not, development in that area is inevitable. He stood by that claim Tuesday.
“The benefit to the city is substantial financially and substantial in the control we have and substantial in aesthetics,” Johnston said in reply to an earlier commenter who asked how the projects would help Heber City. “I think we’ve got the best deal we can negotiate.”
Harvest Village developers, with 39 acres of land available, negotiated the construction of up to 211 residential units, 48 commercial units, 34 hotel units and 33 residential units designated as affordable housing. Crossings developers worked out a deal to build up to 354 residential units, 60 hotel units and 10 commercial units across 56 acres.
Both Councilor Barney and Mayor Heidi Franco spoke out against the developments ahead of the 4-1 vote.
“I feel that this is not something that will benefit our community,” Barney said. “I think this is going to add density where we do not need density. I think this is going to create problems for us down the road that we are not willing to take into consideration, and that is traffic.”
Franco referred back to repeated concerns of developing in the North Fields, which has remained an agriculturally dense and environmentally sensitive area.
“I don’t get a vote on this. I am not comfortable with this. … I’m more concerned about protecting everybody’s property rights instead of just yours,” Franco said, who raised concerns earlier in the meeting about impacts on the Provo River and neighboring properties. “I hope it doesn’t come back to bite the city.”
While Councilors Johnston and Phillips voted in favor of the petition, both said that development in that area was not a choice they wanted to make, but a necessary one. Johnston said after the Jan. 7 council meeting that if Heber City had not accepted the proposal, another entity, like Wasatch County or the Military Installation Development Authority, likely would have taken advantage of the space.
“I’ve been here for 20 years, and there’s been a lot of heartache with growth and things being constructed,” Phillips said. “I’m not super excited to see something built, but I’m happy that we had a say in what’s actually going to be constructed there.”