This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
HEBER CITY - Everyone in Wasatch County loves the sprawling pastures that set off the towering peaks of Mount Timpanogos - but not enough to use tax dollars to buy the rapidly disappearing farmland.
Not yet, anyway.
But the Wasatch County Council is on the verge of executing its first open-space preservation plan as growth spurts to new records, threatening Heber Valley's postcard ambience.
According to new state and federal estimates, Wasatch County - in north-central Utah - is growing at a pace equivalent to southwest Utah's Washington County - the state's fastest. Many Wasatch County residents fight anxiety pangs as real estate prices bound upward, and one family farm after another is sold for development.
"I want to hang on to hope that we'll have some open space in the future," said Midway resident Sharyn Isom. "Can we maintain our cultural heritage when there are so many land speculators?"
After about 18 months of study, the County Council's open-space committee has penned a preliminary proposal that would include zoning tools and conservation fees aimed at preserving wide-open spaces.
The council will grapple with adopting some form of the plan in coming weeks, but no date has been set for a vote.
It would allow developers to transfer building density - the number of units allowed per acre - from one property to another, among other things. The plan also would institute conservation impact fees on new development so that Wasatch County and its municipalities someday could buy open space.
"It's based on a free-market system," said County Councilman Steve Farrell, who heads the committee. "But we're moving slow because we want something that works."
Meanwhile, plans to develop farmland chug ahead.
That distresses resident Ann Zimmerman, who says a proposed 71-acre housing project planned for pastures adjacent to Heber City is alarming.
The development would sit on a portion of the pastureland - called the North Fields - that spans along the north side of State Route 113 from Heber City's west edge to Midway. That housing project has yet to be approved.
"With this building boom, we're concerned about what's going to be left," Zimmerman said. "We'd like community leaders to take a long-term vision of what this community is going to be."
The North Fields are the crown jewel of Wasatch County's open space and the No. 1 priority for preservation, said Annie McMullen, an open-space committee member.
But the new plan does not contemplate asking Wasatch County residents to bond for open-space funding, McMullen said. Committee members fear that weary taxpayers might find that hard to swallow after approving a $60 million bond last fall for a high school.
"We don't think the time is right for bonding," she said. "We've worked hard to get a program that's palatable for everyone. This is a great start."
County Councilman Neil Anderton agrees that asking taxpayers to pony up for open space may not be welcomed by Wasatch County residents.
"We need to test the waters first," he said. "I personally don't want to see us bond. We need to see if we can't do it another way."
There are a number of tools for saving open space, said Wendy Fisher, executive director of the nonprofit Utah Open Lands. In addition to charging developers impact fees, planners can apply zoning, development agreements and conservation easements.
"But what we have found is that if you want to save [large tracts of] open space, you have to buy it," she said. "A bond opens up possibilities in a way no other mechanism can."
Once approved by voters, bond monies can be enhanced by federal and state matching programs, Fisher said.
Getting taxpayers to shake loose the purse strings is easier in neighboring Summit County, where Park City residents have voted to bond for open-space funding on three occasions - a total of $40 million. In 1998 and again in 2001, voters approved $10 million bond issues. Last November, Parkites gave thumbs up to a $20 million bond.
Although the $4 million purchase of the McPolin Farm along State Route 224 was made with Park City general-fund monies, funding from the first two bonds enabled the town to preserve the remainder of open lands along its entry corridors, said Mayor Dana Williams.
"What we learned was that attempting to preserve meaningful open space through development agreements can be very litigious," he said.
Up to this point, Wasatch County residents have hung their hopes for open-space preservation on Heber City officials continuing to deny annexation requests - including the North Fields - that would result in zone changes for high-density housing, said Mayor Dave Phillips.
"Everyone loves open space and hopes the farmers will leave it that way," he said. "But nobody wants to cut a check for it."