After three community feedback sessions covering recreation and tourism, Main Street, and central neighborhoods, Heber City Manager Matt Brower says planners will use public input to guide downtown growth.
He said a common point of interest involved downtown buildings themselves.
“A lot of the big issues are heights for the buildings,” Brower said. “What should the architecture be — if it's great architecture, it can be of higher buildings, if it's not so great, it should be shorter buildings.”
Dan Simmons was one of about 20 Heber Valley residents who attended the Main Street session.
He said his priorities were to preserve historic neighborhoods and balance Main Street traffic with efforts to revamp businesses’ presences there. At the steering meeting, he and others suggested the city help businesses build into back alleys, creating walkable areas unaffected by cars.
He said those present agreed that Heber should consider a new park.
He also said others were more pro-growth than he was. He hoped city planners would find a balance between what needs to be built downtown with preserving aspects of historic neighborhoods that give Heber character.
Brower said other feedback suggested ways to mitigate traffic during and after construction of the new high school the Wasatch County School District plans to begin next year.
Next, the city will review the input and present it in a public meeting as part of the city’s long-term plans.
More on the city's general plan is available at this link.