Hello Neighbors,
Ready for some AMAZING news! See the tremendous progress the Wasatch County Council and Wasatch Open Lands Board (WOLB) made on preserving valuable Open Space in Heber Valley–especially the North Fields.
It is my pleasure to serve you as Chair of the Wasatch Open Lands Board since 2019. WOLB vetted the nine projects, presented them to the County Council which approved using the Open Space bond money to match other federal, state, local, and private funds.
These funds combined bought the development rights off of the land, paid the landowner who keeps the land and maintains it as agricultural or open space in perpetuity.
Go to the 2024 Wasatch Open Lands Board Annual Report, scroll to pg. 21.
See previous Open Lands Board Annual Reports with other Projects.
ALL $10 Million of the 2018 Open Space Bond money has been appropriated to preserve 623+ acres of Open Space Protection within Wasatch County. This is a wonderful legacy to preserve our County’s agricultural heritage for generations to come!
See the Projects and costs at the Annual Report link Above.
Yes, this conserved, undeveloped open space does pay lower property taxes, but YOU won’t need to have more traffic, or pay higher school district taxes for even more schools if that land was developed.
Also the Wasatch County – ‘Zoning Map’ map below shows purple and green ‘hatched’ parcels in the North Fields. The purple ‘hatched’ parcels have Conservation Easement protection agreements. The green ‘hatched’ parcels have the Agricultural Protection Area status.
(Check the map yourself by going to this link, then under the ‘layer list’ (the icon looks like a stack of papers at top right corner) pick the ‘basic map layer, and the ‘agricultural protected parcel layer’ and ‘conservation easement layer’. This will be updated by the County when projects are finalized.)
Here’s a current update for how the County Open Space Bond money was being spent.
The 2024 Annual Report above shows that your Open Space bond money has been leveraged over 6% to other matching funds to preserve over $66 Million of land!
It is significant and amazing for the taxpayer’s Open Space Bond money to get so much added VALUE to the original $10 Million to preserve 623 acres!
Kudos to these private property owners, the County Council, Utah Open Lands, the Summit Lands Conservancy as well as the Open Lands Board for their hard work!
As Chair of the Wasatch Open Lands Board (WOLB), I thank County voters for passing the Open Space bond in 2018! We can preserve the agricultural heritage of Heber Valley and protect our quality of life!
Property owners can apply for other County Open Space bond funding. Learn more at: https://wasatch.utah.gov/OpenLands
If you are interested in preserving your agricultural land, fill out this Notice of Interest APPLICATION for using other Open Space money at: https://wasatch.utah.gov/OpenLands#2082118-information-and-application
Then submit it to: Openlands@wasatch.utah.gov
The Open Lands Board will contact you back. You can attend the monthly WOLB Meeting in person or online to discuss your application and process.
The Mayor's Report 