Heber City held the first of three public open houses on Saturday to gather feedback on potential designs for Main Street Park, which is planned to be reimagined as a “Trailhead Plaza” to support increased event programming by the 2034 Olympics.
That transformation began with the $3.5 million construction of the park’s main stage in June 2025. Now, engineering firm Terracon Consultants are gathering feedback on what the public would like to see added to the park. The firm has drafted three potential designs based on a master plan that architect Roger Brooks thought up in March 2025.
Some key components of these designs include a splash pad and playground, with the primary differences between the three concept designs being the size of the ice ribbon and retail presence.
Terracon estimated elements like cost of construction and financial return using a five-star system instead of defined statistics.
“After we get through this process, we’re going to consolidate all of the community comments, then we’re going to try to put these three options into one preferred master plan. And then, we will attach very detailed cost-estimating to that,” explained Dave Harris, principal landscape architect with Terracon.
The construction and ongoing operations of the park may be funded by sources including Heber City’s Trails, Arts and Parks tax revenue, impact fees on new developments, state and federal grants, public-private partnerships, strategic subsidies to support vendors and revenue generated by vendors and events.
Heber City Community Development Director Tony Kohler said Heber City already has about $8 million in impact fee revenue set aside for the park.
Roger Brooks’ original plan had a price tag of about $23 million, and the three design options by Terracon represent high-, medium- and low-cost buildouts based on Brooks’ vision.
The high-cost design maximizes space for the ice ribbon and retail, with five retail buildings along Main Street, plus a public market where park employees would sell goods from local artisans and businesses.
The medium-cost design removes the public market and brings down the number of retail buildings to one while also reducing the size of the ice ribbon.
The low-cost design shrinks the ice ribbon to an oval and, in lieu of expansive retail options, adds a building that would serve as a rentable event venue and public market.
All three designs share some elements, including a Trailhead Center, from which park employees would store and rent out equipment, and a jewel box kiosk, a small incubator space leased to a local business.
An executive director and staff would be hired to be responsible for programming and maintaining the park. Kohler said the city would likely “lean on” the Community Alliance for Main Street, a nonprofit organization focused on downtown revitalization, for those tasks.
Feedback from the open house’s 31 attendees was all over the place.
Residents Kent and Karen Smith were happy with the medium-cost design because it expanded amenities without potentially crowding the space.
“I don’t expect the retail to pick up the whole tab for the park,” Kent said. “And I don’t mind paying taxes to have a nice, decent park in town.”
The couple’s primary concern was whether a park redesign and increased event programming had the public parking to support them.
“We go every Thursday night to the park, when they have concerts in the park,” Karen said. “And, I mean, the parking down in those neighborhoods on the west end of town? People are very patient, but I don’t think they would be patient with it constantly, every weekend.”
Heber City is looking to install a total of 1,200 public parking stalls downtown to support the full buildout of Main Street Park in 2029, as recommended by Roger Brooks.
Heber City installed a total of 83 new stalls on 100 East and at the Wasatch Wave and Tabernacle buildings in 2025. In 2026, Heber City is looking to bring the number of stalls to 267, or 22% of the goal. New stalls would be located at the Public Safety Building, the former fire station and Heber Light & Power buildings and Block 103 between 100 and 200 North.
Other than parking, many residents were concerned about mitigating other potential impacts to neighbors, such as noise. Terracon Senior Landscape Architect Lars Erickson said those concerns would be addressed in a final design.
Former Heber City Council candidate Nick López was one of a few residents who was outright opposed to all three park designs. He wanted a simpler makeover that would add a new pavilion, restrooms, water fountains and trees. He didn’t like what he referred to as the commercialization of the park.
“It’s becoming an amusement park rather than just a tranquil, city park where we have barbecues or a Fourth of July festival,” he said. “When they say there’s going to be revenue generated, that’s maybe. But I think the cost for that is just too much.”
Meanwhile, former Heber City Councilor Scott Phillips and his wife, Kristi, were fans of the high-cost option because Terracon estimates it would bring in the most revenue.
“If we’re going to be investing that much money in a park, it’d be great to be able to generate revenue and have less tax dollars in the future sustaining it,” Scott said.
He also thought the row of retail buildings along Main Street would act as a buffer between the park and Main Street traffic.
“Right now, if you’re sitting in the park, it’s just loud and obnoxious,” he said.
Heber City Councilor Yvonne Barney said that, while she liked the idea of a buffer, she thought a clear view of the park from Main Street would attract more visitors than a row of buildings.
Barney leaned toward the medium-cost option and thought all three options were an improvement on Roger Brooks’ original design because they provided greater consideration for the lawn and trees.
All three designs try to save as many existing trees as possible while planting new saplings in and around the park, represented by green circles with plus signs on the design maps.
While Barney was eager to provide her thoughts on the design, she was even more eager in encouraging residents to voice their desires for the park.
“Change is hard,” she said. “But if we don’t want someone to come and change it for us, then we control what we can change.”
There are two open houses scheduled for Thursday. The first takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Wasatch County Recreation Center. The second takes place 4 to 7 p.m. at J.R. Smith Elementary School. There is also an online survey available at tinyurl.com/3w27n2w2 through the end of the month. As of Tuesday morning, there had been 116 responses to the survey.