A community of affordable homes drew equal parts enthusiasm and skepticism from the Heber City Council on Tuesday as Provo-based developer FlexReady Homes presented a revised plan for its community of 42 units between Southfield Road and the Heber Valley Railroad.
FlexReady Homes allows the owner to purchase a 1,200-square-foot, two-story, single-family home. The homes are constructed with the ability to be easily expanded upon with add-ons built by FlexReady Homes, like a garage or accessory dwelling unit, if the owner wishes to purchase them.
The base units are targeted to be affordable to those making 80% of the area median income, which is $109,120 for a family of four in Wasatch County.
“Every homeowner around, and all of us (who) have had homes, have enjoyed the financial stability that comes from home ownership. So, our goal is to get people into homes, not rentals, homes that they can actually build out, invest in and enjoy,” said FlexReady Homes managing partner Curt Magleby.
Magleby and developer Brent Bluth, who works as the director of development with Self-Help Homes, but does not represent the nonprofit in his partnership with Magleby, first pitched the concept to the City Council in December. They wanted to gauge interest in the project before applying for a zone change through the Heber City Planning Commission, which requires final approval by the City Council.
The zone change would accommodate the density of the project. With 42 units on the 4.11-acre property, the density is 10.22 units per acre. The current zoning of the property would likely permit up to six dwellings on the property, according to agenda materials.
In exchange for increasing the allowed density, the City Council’s request in December was to include some units that would be affordable to those making 60% AMI, which is $81,840 for a family of four in Wasatch County.
Of the 42 units, 22 are base units, and the remainder are condominium flats affordable to those making 60% AMI. These flats are smaller than the single-family homes and would be sold to two tenants, one on the 780-square-foot top floor and another on the 960-square-foot bottom floor. Each has two bedrooms and one bathroom. The units do not have two-car garages like the base units do and are unable to be expanded with add-ons.
“We went through a lot of head-banging to get to that point,” Bluth said.
FlexReady Homes also plans to acquire the adjacent Heber Valley Assisted Living from the current property owner, George Bennett, and convert it into seven of its 20 condominium units. That agreement has not yet been finalized, but Bluth and Magleby said they were expecting it within two weeks.
If the agreement with Bennett falls through, 16 of the 20 condominium units reserved for those making 60% AMI would be eliminated.
Brad Hiatt, who lives south of the site plan, raised concerns that the community of FlexReady Homes would negatively affect the character of his neighborhood and increase traffic. He compared the high-density development to a trailer park in the middle of single-family homes.
Magleby pushed back against those concerns.
“There are some around each neighborhood that are concerned about others moving closer to them, but those are the lucky few that were able to purchase a home for cheap, when the land was cheap,” he said.
Hiatt, however, explained that he had once been pushed out of Heber City by high prices and had only moved back once he could afford to. He said that as the father of three children, he understood the need for affordable housing, but did not think FlexReady Homes’ target price of around $450,000 for a 1,200-square-foot base unit would be something his children would buy if they could.
City Councilor Mike Johnston said such a housing community would be essential to support employees who work in Heber City.
“I know the NIMBY attitude, and I disagree with it,” he said. “It’s on a collector road, not driving through someone else’s neighborhood. Got a railroad behind it. There’s parks in this area. … There’s churches in this area you can walk to. It’s a great place for this kind of development.”
Although feedback from the City Council was generally positive, members weaved some skepticism into their own comments about the site plan.
City Councilor Yvonne Barney was concerned that the purchase of Heber Valley Assisted Living was not finalized. She said she was worried the price of the FlexReady units would increase if the agreement fell through because the developer would reduce the number of units and increase its costs.
“If those units go down, will the cost of the project go up? Guarantee it will go up. You can count on it. That’s simple economics,” Bluth said. “And we have to look at it and say, ‘OK, will that still work?’ And that’s what we’ll look at before we even come to you.”
Barney had previously asked for an example of FlexReady Homes built in other communities as proof of concept.
The company has 500 homes under contract and is negotiating with municipalities including Ephraim, Grantsville, Tooele, Eagle Mountain and Helper, Santaquin and Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Kauai, Hawaii. However, only a handful of those homes, located in Ephraim, are under construction.
City Councilor Aaron Cheatwood also wanted to ensure Heber City isn’t a “guinea pig.”
Heber City Community Development Director Tony Kohler suggested that stipulations could be written into a development agreement to “hold their feet to the fire” and ensure the start-up successfully followed through on the project.
Bluth offered to give city officials tours of the Ephraim homes once they were closer to completion.
Following the discussion, Magleby said he thought the project was moving in a positive direction. Once the purchase agreement of Heber Valley Assisted Living is worked out, FlexReady Homes will go forward in working with the city’s Planning Department to finalize a site plan and present it to the Planning Commission, then the City Council for final approval.