Wasatch County

Scroll down page for more issues like  MIDA development at Jordanelle and Older BUDGETS!   To see recent videos of  Wasatch County meetings go here: Wasatch Taxpayers YouTube Page  

Public Hearing Dec 6th, 2023-   Wasatch County Agenda

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The Wasatch County Council will hold a Public Hearing on December 6, 2023, 6pm at 25 North Main Street, Heber City, Utah.  ZOOM LINK HERE, at time of meeting. Tax notice

The county council decides to NOT increase GENERAL FUND taxes so it does NOT need a truth in taxation hearing.  TENTATIVE 2024 BUDGET HERE

The purpose of the hearing is to: 1) Hear and approve the 2024 General Fund and other Funds’ Budgets; 2) Hear and approve adjustments to salaries for all elected and appointed positions in accordance to the adoption of the 2024 County Budget; and 3) Hear and approve budget amendments to the 2023 General Fund and other Funds’ Budgets.  — Wasatch County will make efforts to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled members of the public in accessing County programs. Please contact Wendy McKnight at the Wasatch County Council office at 435-657-3193 in advance if you have special needs.

2024 Wasatch County Budget increases- See ALL tentative budgets HERE

GREAT INFO! November 21, 2023- Wasatch County Manager Dustin Grabau discusses the upcoming truth-in-taxation hearings, the proposed county budget increases, and the EMS tax on the ballot in this election. Listen here:  KPCW Local News Hour 

The Library Budget below is considered by county manager to be more needed, but may not have to be adopted in full.

Parks and Recreation Truth in Taxation Public hearing is Dec 12, 2023- agenda

Parks and Recreation Budget video Nov 14,2023 This parks and recreation budget may not be needs because Prop 9 passed on the ballot in November. The Transient Room Tax (approx $600K) that was going to EMS can now be possibly used for next year’s Parks and Rec budget. The new Prop 9 sales tax will not start until the second quarter of 2024, so by 2025 this transfer of funds will be more utilized.

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6-4-19-  The strangest thing happened at the Wasatch County Planning Commission PUBLIC HEARING WC Planning AGENDA public hearing 6-4-19 on the new power pole route and substation- There was NO PUBLIC input from the standing room only crowd. HL&P and RMP county application 2019   How can you notice a public hearing, and then allow no public input? The Chair, Mike Smith decided he didn’t need to hear from the public, and the deputy county attorney along with the rest of the planning commission didn’t stop him. There was a NEW route and NEW substation submitted this time that was different than 2017. How the chair could determine that the citizens already commented on this application is beyond comprehension. The public notice and application DID NOT have the correct address for the substation, so it was new information that night. Why was the property not disclosed to the public prior to the purchase?

Because the Wasatch County voters know very well where this property is. 

To top it off, the new substation is located in a A-20 zone (agricultural preservation) in the county (click picture at left to enlarge), and the previous owner was the same person who requested a boundary move last year that caused the citizens to do a referendum petition which became PROP 10 on the ballot last November. The voters last November agreed with the citizens by over 62% NOT to move the boundary. But now the Heber Light and Power board voted to purchase this property and put this industrial substation on  it. 

Here’s the old PROP 10 map that showed where the boundary would be moved so one landowner can get a rezone. see below. 

They are asking for a conditional use from the Wasatch County Planning Commission and will meet again on July 11th, but there are many things still not resolved from 2 years ago, questions never answered. One landowner resents his land being used in the route and HL&P representing that they’ve talked to everyone. Not true. We’ll see if we get public comments in July. Stay tuned……

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4-17-19- UDOT Bypass Road (new name “Heber Parkway”) Open House was packed with citizens in the small Heber Police Station conference room at 6:30pm. (It must be noted that the map picture on the left is NOT the “preferred route” that was named by UDOT, and citizens noticed). The picture below is what was causing all the concerns for citizens. For some reason, this was never shown last night, even though UDOT proclaimed it their ‘preferred route”.

There was a whole panel of people to answer questions: Heber City manager, Wasatch County manager and attorney, Heber Airport Advisory Board Chair (this meeting ended up being an airport meeting too), Heber City planner, Mountainlands Council of Gov’ts Director, and a couple UDOT officials. It must be noted that there was not one Heber City council member present, and that Mayor Potter left the meeting at around 7:45pm , and the meeting lasted until around 11pm. The very people who needed to hear the citizen feedback were not there. Once a 10 minute presentation was finished, giving the history and future process of the bypass road, the citizens got to ask questions. Brady Flygare, a homeowner speaking for the affected landowners, read a very critical prepared statement to the local elected officials and staff. It is attached here:BYPASS Joint Community Statement 4-17-19   In this letter, they reference the Dec 18,2018 meeting which is detailed below- scroll down this page to watch videos and get more details.

It’s worth it to watch the major portion of the meeting. Watch meeting here: Wasatch Taxpayers Youtube page 

KPCW report on meeting

Here’s the official UDOT page for the Bypass Road– now called the “Heber Parkway”. Click on their tabs with “details” and “downloads”.

Mountainlands webpage of Bypass has a lot of info!

****See the latest on the AIRPORT expansion rumors here, since UDOT wanted to remove Highway 189 in this NEW “preferred route”.

2-20-19 UDOT had a citizen open house to show their latest BYPASS designs that this website told you about 2 months ago, (scroll down and see a couple posts below for 12-18-18. watch videos of very detailed staff meeting with UDOT!)  Here are the designs presented at the open house – NW route open house FEB 2019       South route open house FEB 2019       SW roundabout open house FEB 2019

There was much talk by citizens about the removal of Highway 189 allowing the airport to possibly expand. That was high on their radar, and was not happy about that possibility.  The Heber City Council has been very quiet about this new redesign, but some of them as candidates said they were completely against the airport expansion.  Time for them to weigh in on this design proposal??

A public comment period is open now through March 6, please take a moment to send your comments to hebervalleycorridor@utah.gov.

Email from UDOT-  “We encourage you to please share this information with your friends, family, and community members who have an interest in these studies and may not yet be on the email list.  Thank you,”   Heber Valley Corridor Planning Study Public Involvement    hebervalleycorridor@utah.gov     801-597-5128

1-17-19- Shawn Seager, from Mountainlands, is interviewed by KPCW about the Bypass Road and the need for an environmental study for the wetland s in the NW corridor of the Bypass Road. This road is easily 10 years out! Open House will be February 20th at the Heber Valley Elementary School. 

12-18-18- There was a UDOT staff meeting (with Heber City and County reps) to give these local officials the very latest UDOT design of the Bypass Road. It is not being referred to as the “Bypass Road” anymore. It is now the “Highway 40 Realignment”, since Heber City would like to reclaim Main Street and turn it into a local’s and tourist destination to shop and eat.  Interesting discussion on the urgent need for a detailed environmental study for the NW corner of the road. There are 3 different routes on the top map, but they are guesses at best. NO ONE KNOWS where the NW corner around Muirfield will go yet. The 3 below maps ARE a final draft, and the public officials in the room liked those designs. Highway 189 will disappear and the Highway 40 realignment will takes it’s place for the stretch of road around the roundabout and back to Highway 189.  A town hall meeting for the public will be sometime early-mid January so they can see the new info and comment.   Stay tuned……!   The ONLY place to watch the discussion is right here. Listen to the very important decisions made:  Watch the 3 video discussion: Wasatch Taxpayers Youtube page   

New interchange maps of Western and Southern areas: (click to enlarge)

See what land the County Council has purchased so far. They ran out of money in the fund, so no land has been purchased since 2016. This money is collected from your sales taxes on your annual vehicle registrations. BYPASS ROAD- purchased land 2016

Here’s a video search of many Bypass Road discussions over the last few years- Wasatch Taxpayers Youtube page

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2-24-18- Rep. John Curtis had a town hall meeting in Heber and graciously spent over an hour answering questions ranging from school safety, immigration, healthcare, public lands.  Watch here! (See comments below video to go to specific conversations.)    Wasatch Taxpayers Youtube page

7-5-17 Scott Loomis from Mountainland Community Housing Trust conducted an affordable housing needs assessment for Wasatch County- Affordable Housing Needs Assessment Wasatch Co  Watch the video explanation here: Wasatch Taxpayers Youtube page

For latest Heber City/ Wasatch County discussion on Heber’s annexation map- go here- Heber City Page 

4-12-17 Jordanelle Ridge development, also known as Sorensen Property which has approx. 9,000 acres above the UVU College campus, approached the county council to re-evaluate the ERU’s (Equivalent Residential Units) and to move 700 ERU’s out of the lower area of the North Village to their new master plan on the upper part.  Here’s the county’s PPT presentation from the meeting, on the issues involved with this development-Jordanelle Ridge PPT- PDF 2017

This development, when built out, will increase our county population by 18,000 people. Heber City’s current population is around 14,000. Yikes.  See the plan here:  Wasatch Taxpayers Youtube page     

*****To learn more about a recent Heber City meeting where they discussed possibly annexing this property, even though Wasatch County has been in the development process with Sorensen, and where Terry Diehl was mentioned as involved with this property, go here:  Heber City Planning Commission meeting  

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4-11-17 The Interlocal Gov’t meeting was held at the Midway Council Chambers and included many issues concerning the whole valley. There are 5 different videos discussing the Arts Village at Memorial Hill, in Midway, UDOT bypass updates, HL&P new power lines, and event coordination with all public entities.  Watch all the very important discussions here: Wasatch Taxpayers Youtube page    UDOT has put the BYPASS road back on their radar screen for at least identifying the easements needed someday. Heber Light & Power is connecting Midway and Heber with a huge power line. The county and cities sometimes have a difficult time coordinating large events and needs to communicate better. Ryan Starks, County Director of Tourism, wanted to set up a committee to communicate better and to set up much needed rules for deadlines to file events so that the public entities could plan services better. The Arts Coalition wants all countywide gov’ts to support them in developing a commercial “village” that would hold a visual and performance arts center. Some Midway residents are concerned about the density and height allowances in this development, and have been very vocal on Midway’s facebook page.  To learn more about the controversial Midway commercial development that has alot of Midway residents concerned, go here: Midway Page

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Wasatch County budget- 2017  — also past year’s budgets. County website- http://www.wasatch.utah.gov/clerk#5776-budget— the county said they wanted a 2.5% pay increase across the board (when asked how much that amounts to, County Manager Mike Davis said that it’s in his budget. No budgets available for the public to see besides one on the overhead projector) yet on their detailed budget on this website each dept doesn’t have anything under cost of living increase or COLA benefits?

Wasatch County 2015 salaries (none for 2016 yet)- wasatch-county-salaries-2015 (you have to download to your computer first, then open)

Watch the videos of the discussion and citizen questions: Wasatch Taxpayers YouTube page

12-7-16 The Parks & Rec budget hearing: Watch the videos of the discussion and citizen questions: Wasatch Taxpayers Parks & Rec page

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4-12-2016-  UDOT held a local meeting with our Wasatch County public entities. They updated our local officials (Heber City, Wasatch County, Midway and Charleston) on the updated construction projects and new state laws. Go here to watch the very informative videos of the meeting.  Wasatch Taxpayers YouTube Page  (video #3 starts talking about more local info and bypass)

The local UDOT meetings are NOT posted on the public meetings notice website! The only place they are posted is on this page where it has a link to the “Annual Visit Schedule” (there’s also a link to the power point presentation -starting on PAGE 33 is the PPT included in our video 2)  https://www.udot.utah.gov/main/f?p=100:pg:0:::1:T,V:1139,

Here’s the Region 3 page, with interactive maps to see upcoming projects. http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/f?p=100:pg:0:::1:T,V:61,

Region 3 current projects-http://uplan.maps.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=00954f8c576b4871a9696dc2835614b3

Matt Parker- LOCAL Region 3 Project Manager 801-227-8034 mattparker@utah.gov

Teri Newell, Region Three Director
658 North 1500 West
Orem, Utah 84057
Main Number 801-227-8000

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 12-2-2015  The County 2016 Budget public hearing video: Wasatch Taxpayers YouTube Page     Attached 2016 Budgets for recording reference

12-3-15 Upcoming FIRE DISTRICT regular meeting 4pm -Budget hearing 6pm – Fire agenda here   (for location & time)  FIRE Budget 2016

 12-10-15  4:30pm – Upcoming SSD budget hearings- Strawberry Lake, North Village, Twin Creeks, Brighton Estates, Jordanelle. One Agenda Here (location & time)  Budgets Here 

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April 2015- The saga of the Wasatch County PLANNING COMMISSION  For almost 3 years, there have been public concerns with the conduct of the planning commission as it relates to following their code of conduct, and their adherence to the rules per state code. (see below under 2012 written complaint) There were a “good many” applications filed in Jan 2015 for the open planning commission seats, but the county manager did not respond to applicants until the first week of April 2015. No email response to thank the citizens for applying, no interview, no information to the applicants on what the process will be.  In 3 months, these applicants may not be available anymore to serve….   

In the Wednesday, April 8^th meeting the County Manager, Mike Davis, submitted these names to the county council for planning commission: Bob Gappmeier, Gerald Heyward, and Lou Giles – Associates Brad Lyle, Jay Eckersley. County Council didn’t even know that Gappmeier was planning on applying again; he was the chair of last year’s planning commission.    

3 videos from Wed April 8, 2015 Co. Manager’s appts  (see comments below recording for prompt) Wasatch Taxpayers YouTube Page

To hear some of the concerning dialogue by the planning commission at the November 2014 Northfield’s rezone check out these youtube links:

Planning commission public hearing on Northfields 11-13-14 Wasatch Taxpayers YouTube Page

Planning commission’s comments and vote after public hearing:  Wasatch Taxpayers YouTube Page

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Here are the previous concerns sent in writing to the county manager in 2012 about this very planning commission and their conduct:

2012- PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING WHERE CITIZENS WERE HARRASSED (see recording here on ensuing planning commission re-appointments by county manager, in 2013,  of some of the same people to planning commission) Impact 12-6-2012 Pt 2 Mike Davis CountyMgr 1/3 of the way into recording talks about planning commission citizen’s complaint, conflicts of interest, change in gov’t referendum committee.

Plan Comm recording 8-9-2012-Northfields– (might take a minute to download) Discussion starts with County Planner at 31 minutes into recording, first citizen starts speaking at 41:30. County Manager received a citizen complaint with 6 names who witnessed this meeting in August, and the county never formally responded. In November, another follow up letter was sent to the county by citizens.  The county attorney responded by Jan 2013, see letter:  WC- GRAMA denial Jan 2013

The letter sited conflicts of interest with 3 members of the planning commission who own property in the Northfields and openly disclose they do in the August meeting.    In the original complaint, included was state code:

UTAH STATE CODE– Conflict of Interest

A planning commissioner to whom some private benefit may be derived as the result of a planning commission action should not be a participant in the action. The following are recommended as guidelines for dealing with conflicts:

The private benefit may be direct or indirect, create a material personal gain or provide an advantage to relatives, friends or groups and associations which hold some share of a person’s loyalty.

State law requires that a public official experiencing a conflict of interest declare the conflict publicly. It is strongly recommended, however, that a planning commissioner with a conflict abstain from voting on the action in question and leave the room during consideration of the action. The commissioner should not discuss the matter privately with any other commissioner. The vote cast by a planning commissioner who has a conflict of interest, but who has not excused him or herself, shall be disallowed. (pg 2-16)

By-Laws of the Wasatch County Planning Commission

– Sect XI: (C) No member shall act or vote on any matter which he or she has a direct financial interest, which involve a conflict of interest as found in he Utah Code, or which a member cannot fairly and impartially act or vote on any matter before the Commission.
Any member declaring a conflict of interest shall be disqualified and shall leave the room and not participate in the discussion and vote pertaining to that particular matter.

The Chairperson

The chairperson should endeavor to develop the group’s communication networks. The chairperson is the unifying member of the commission. The chairperson’s responsibility is to assure that meetings are conducted by the rules and each member is allowed to express opinions. The chairperson should encourage discussion, but discourage arguments. A planning commission is a problem-solving group, and it is the responsibility of the chair to propel the group toward its goals and prevent irrelevant and distracting discussion. An effective chairperson is an organizer who develops and maintains good group interaction to assure a successful and timely conclusion of each item on the meeting agenda.

Planning commission’s standard of practice:  The Planning Commission (CPPA, U of U)

Included among the most important character traits for an effective planning commissioner are:  

• A willingness to serve the long-range interests of the community with sensitivity to the impact that each decision will impose upon the future of the community.
• An ability to avoid politics, or extreme biases, from affecting decisions. The dedicated planning commissioner bases all decisions on the facts, an objective interpretation of the regulations, and the best interest of the total community.
• An ability to clarify the feelings in the community on all sides of an issue. The commissioner’s responsibility is to sort out opinions and make recommendations to enable the decision-makers to vote in the best interest of the community. The commission can help prevent an elected official from acting in an arbitrary or capricious manner by clarifying the issues. Many times such clarification can avoid the sacrifice of a long range benefit for short term gratification.
• A desire to expand his/her knowledge of the community. The commissioner should be well informed of the history, development and social and physical needs of the community. The commissioner should review carefully all available facts concerning the community to understand its values, characteristics and dynamics.
• An understanding of the community’s regulatory tools, such as the zoning, subdivision, and other pertinent ordinances. These tools are the primary means of implementing the general plan. Like any powerful tools, they must be handled with skill, sensitivity, and care.

Citizen comments that were included in the complaint:

“First off, I’d like to say, I did not speak at the meeting because of how aggressive the committee was with the other speakers.  I felt some were more concerned with their own property development than the issue at hand.”

“My observation, as to the behavior of those on the planning commission, was far from professional.  They demeaned the Commission by attacking those who presented legitimate opposition to the rezoning application.”

“The citizens who spoke were aggressively challenged on their beliefs, debated with in public, and berated for not believing in the constitution just because we believe in zoning regulations and adhering to our county master plan.”

“In the public meeting the Planning Board totally ignored their obligation to apply the Standard of Review for variances. Reference to the General Plan is required and none was even attempted. The Board primarily made their personal arguments as to the unfairness of the existing zoning law with respect to their ownership rights. Essentially they argued against the existence of the law and failed to enforce the law.”

“My first observation was that (certain commissioners) were biased in favor of development and without concern for the impact and aesthetics’ a more concentrated development is likely to have on the beautiful Heber Valley.  Both visual appearance and likely degradation of air quality etc.  (They seemed hostile toward citizens input)

“The members of the planning commission that have significant land holdings in the North Fields should have recused themselves from the vote as it appears as a conflict of interest and biased decision. With the decision to recommend the zone change from A-20 to RA-5 for the 30 acre parcel in the North Fields, the planning commission paid no heed to the 12+ findings that staff posted that were clearly against recommendation for the rezone or of great concern.”

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BYU study on our Wasatch County BYPASS ROAD. Bypass Project 2014 BYU

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 The aquatics center was a huge decision for the taxpayers of Wasatch County in 2014.  Go to this website for all our info from this bond election. 

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      9/17/14  MIDA 101 instruction – recording from state legislature 

MIDA open house meeting 1-28-14 recordings: Wasatch Taxpayers YouTube page

The Wasatch County Council held a public “open house” to get all developers and MIDA representatives in a room together to explain the County’s plans for the Jordanelle area. Wasatch County said that some rumors were circulating that were not true, and they wanted to clear the air. This meeting was well attended and some new information was disclosed.

IMPACT Radio show discussing meeting-                                                                                     Impact 1-29-2014 Pt 1 School Demolition, MIDA meeting (11:15 into recording starts the MIDA discussion) .           pact 1-29-2014 Pt 2 MIDA meeting con’t -Part 2 with Mike Davis and Steve Capson

WC- MIDA agreement mtg minutes 9-2012 –WC unanimously APPROVES MIDA agreement

MIDA public hearing documents 7-18-12 -WC meeting of MIDA committee

Utah State Code- MIDA

Military Installation Development Authority– transparent.utah.gov

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   Central Utah Water Project- Overview

Official Name: Central Utah Water Conservancy District (CUWCD)

(Click on picture at left to enlarge) To see ALL connections to the Colorado River Basin

June 5, 2014 -Devin McKrola, from the C.U.P., gave a presentation to the Heber City Council to give an update of projects in the past year.  

See discussion here:  Wasatch Taxpayers YouTube page  

For 12/5/2013 Wasatch Fire District Budget Public Hearing click here

Wasatch County Budget  PUBLIC HEARING — Date/Time: 12/4/2013 6:00 P.M. Location: Wasatch County, Council Room, 25 North Main Street, Heber City, Utah 

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****Video Recordings of meeting- Go to 0ur Wasatch Taxpayers YouTube page

Attached 2014 Budgets for recording reference:

2014 Wasatch Co. Proposed Budget    SSD- Brighton Estates 2014 budget   SSD- Jordanelle 2014  SSD- North Village 2014 budget     SSD- Parks & Rec 2014 budget    SSD- Strawberry Lakes 2014    SSD- Strawberry Ranch 2014 budget

Public Notice-  2014 Wasatch Co Proposed Tax Increase!  

2014 Preliminary Budget Announced by County Manager

Even though County Manager, Mike Davis, said on their website,” I am submitting the budget and asking the Council to hold the Certified Tax rate for 2014 to the same amount as 2013″ the county is raising taxes! 2014 Wasatch Co Proposed Tax Increase.  

The County General Fund Budget, Fund 10, is what funds most of the County departments. Some notable exceptions to that are:

Many of the increases in the General Fund Budget are due to increases in County Business. More money in means more money spent. Other increases are a direct result of increases in Law Enforcement and Emergency Services. In these areas, we usually don’t see any increases in revenue, but, do see increased costs for enforcement and response. Following are a few of the notable increases.

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Impact radio programs with county manager, Mike Davis (If you need to sign in, username- heberut/password- heber)

Impact 12-6-2012 Pt 1 Mike Davis,Co Manager Talks about Special Service Districts, Wasatch Co. Fire District tax increase

Impact 12-6-2012 Pt 2 Mike Davis CountyMgr 1/3 of the way into recording talks about planning commission citizen’s complaint, conflicts of interest, change in gov’t referendum committee.

Impact 12-18-2012 Pt 1MikeDavis, Co Mgr Pay raise, discussion about personnel,the costs of training inexperienced service people.

Impact 12-18-2012 Pt 2 MikeDavis Co Mgr Discusses planning commission applicants and process, and personnel.

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2013 budgets for:

Wasatch County Library Budget  and Wasatch County Senior Citizen’s Center Budget

Wasatch County Voting Districts 2012

Wasatch County Fire District warrants approved- 08-02-2012

MIDA public hearing documents 7-18-12

Economic and tourism board-March 2012 PR Report

December 2012 Budget Mtgs

12/05/2012 – Wasatch_County_Council-December5th2012-Mtg-Agenda

– Wasatch_County_Council-December5th2012-Mtg-Notes-AWardell

This website is for educational purposes only, unless it is specifically stated that WTPA has a stance on a specific issue. To the best of our knowledge this is correct information, but we welcome corrections if errors are found.