At the March 7, meeting the City Council discussed sending an official Resolution to UDOT supporting the Bypass Road EIS (Study) as well as which route the City Council preferred.
Ryan Stack, City Council Member, submitted an agenda ‘Memo’ saying that the ‘majority of the City Council’ supported the North Fields routes, WB3 & WB4.
Only I and Council Member Yvonne Barney spoke against those North Fields routes and in favor of the originally planned Bypass route similar to Bypass route WB2. It is eye-opening that Ryan Stack would say the ‘majority’ of the Council wanted something without any previous Council votes on this. It does make me wonder, have there been discussions outside of City Council meetings regarding this issue? Have City Council members reached a private consensus on a position? Does discussing city issues outside of City Council lead to transparency?
Click here to see proposed Bypass routes
I appreciate the tremendous response to my new ‘Mayor’s Report’ blog—Thank YOU!
More than 20 people came to the meeting to speak against the North Fields Bypass routes and asked the City Council to not support routes WB3 & WB4. Also 38 people sent in public comments that were ALL against these North Fields routes. Thank you for caring and sending in your comments!
I believe these comments reflect the majority opinion in our City and Valley.
I asked UDOT in a February 27, 2023 meeting to follow the majority will in this County against the proposed North Fields routes and stick to the originally planned route. Preserving the North Fields is essential for the future of Heber City and has been my consistent position in three campaigns and eleven years of public service. The North Fields are not only a cultural and historic treasure, this area is the home of vast wetlands that filter the water for our community and others in the state. The main water aquifer for Heber city is also under the North Fields.
Also, UDOT’s own ‘Fact Sheet’ (2nd link above) shows that the route of WB2 gets the southbound queue of cars down to 400 cars (that’s the potential backup of cars at 500 North) ; whereas the two North Fields routes (WB3 & WB4) –which costs millions more—also get the southbound back-up queue to 375 or 400 cars. This WB2 route is just as effective on future traffic as the proposed North Fields routes and costs much less. Plus it preserves the North Fields from future development pressure if that highway is built through there. We all know that transportation infrastructure is a green light to further development.
At the 2nd link above, UDOT also projects the driving time saved on the North Fields Bypass routes (WB3 & WB4) versus driving time on the WB2 route as a difference of only 3 minutes or less. This includes all of the growth projections coming in the Jordanelle basin as well as within our Valley.
Neighbors, is the higher cost – both in dollars and environmental impact — of building through the North Fields really worth saving 3 minutes of driving time, especially when the WB2 Bypass route also saves us one minute of driving time over the same distance? Is saving a net 2 minutes of driving time really worth carving up and forever changing the North Fields? (That’s compared to current driving time. UDOT also shows potential driving time calculations if no Bypass road is built.)
Consider why we live in Heber City and Heber Valley? Is it because of driving time? Or is it because of the North Fields and incredible environmental quality in this Valley?
Please continue to send in your public comments to: ccpublic@heberut.gov The City Council needs to know how important it is to preserve the North Fields. Preserving our quality of life is much more important than saving two minutes of time for those driving thru our valley. Original Bypass Routes like Route WB2 will get the diesels off Main Street and provide the connectivity we need now and with future growth.
The Mayor's Report 
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