The Heber City Community Forum had overwhelming numbers of attendees on April 17 at the Public Safety Community Room, as citizens gathered in what City Manager Matt Brower called a fireside chat. The evening turned into an opportunity to put UDOT representatives on the ropes, as many citizens asked why the recommended UDOT Heber Valley Parkway route was being considered when so many residents were opposed to it.
Danny Goode, Chairman of the Wasatch County Council stated that the county council took a position to not support the UDOT proposed recommended route.
Citizen Bruce Mack emphasized the potential cost of the project, stating, “As a general proposition, this whole bypass issue $150 million bucks, that’s a lot of money. We could do a lot of things with that money for Heber. We have about a mile and a half of Heber Main Street that is a little overburdened with traffic. To relieve that problem we are going to destroy the North Fields and destroy the South Fields and destroy a whole host of amenities for people who have lived here with the expectation that they would be left alone. I think the issue should be reexamined.” UDOT officials later reminded the attendees that no budget had been defined for construction.
Mayor Kelleen Potter stated that it was obvious from the attendance at the meeting and comments that the UDOT recommended route was not going to work for the citizens and Heber City would continue to work with UDOT on determining other alternative routes that would be less impactful to the community members.
“Elected Officials are hearing a whole other side now, and you guys have been very vocal and that’s exactly what we need to hear. So now we say, wait a minute, we are going to step back, because maybe that is the best traffic effective alternative but as elected officials we see that this is hurting too many people. But we have not got all the information yet because we haven’t taken a strong stand and said ‘you can do whatever you want but it better not go on 1300 south.’ That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. It doesn’t mean that we’re not hearing you, it doesn’t mean we support that but we are elected officials that have to take what comes from the study and then we will be able to hear when it’s all done. After they crunch these last comments and we’ll be able to say I just don’t support that or you know, let’s see what happens but I want you to know that you are being heard.”
After many significant and impactful by comments by attendees, UDOT Project Manager Jeremy Bown said UDOT would move the statement of UDOT having the proposal as a recommended route to that of an alternative route. For more information and details about the Heber Valley Parkway go to EnvisionHeber.com.
