Heber City’s wildland urban interface map is expanding.  Municipalities are required to adopt a wildland urban interface map — which shows areas where urban zones meet wildland and open space — under House Bill 48, which the state Legislature passed last year.  The law is designed to help residents protect their properties by requiring fire-resistant, defensible materials in development, managing vegetation and ensuring water availability. Property owners can still build in high-risk areas, but new construction in such zones must comply with stricter safety and building standards. H.B. 48 also aimed to help curb potential property insurance impacts. Insurance agencies can only determine high-risk properties as defined by the WUI maps adopted across the state. Heber City adopted its map earlier this year, but voted to expand it on Tuesday. The Heber City Planning Commission amended the city’s WUI map to add land from the Wasatch Canal west of Valley Hill Boulevard, heading north along U.S. 40. The change does not affect any of the underlying zoning regulations such as lot sizes or uses, heights or setbacks. Anything built prior to the adoption of the map change would be grandfathered in.  “The intent here is to really mitigate wildfire and to mitigate the spread of fire through these areas as they bump up against undeveloped areas or hillsides,” Baron said.  Wasatch Fire District Fire Warden Troy Morgan said the amendment adds requirements to increase structures’ resiliency in wildfire areas. He said essentially, the WUI code has three zones: wildland that’s undeveloped, wildland-urban interface and urban areas.  “The concern that we have here is when we had initially drawn the map for Heber City and for this area, it followed the canal,” Morgan said. “But with this level of development and the density that we’re seeing, the proximity of houses to one another kind of exacerbates the potential spread of structure to structure.” There are multiple fuel sources for fires: Grass, shrubs, trees and homes or structures. The WUI amendment would help mitigate the risk of wildfires and wind-event fires.  Morgan also emphasized that the Wasatch Fire District can complete requested home hazard assessments, which would be submitted to the state. Those assessments could possibly lower fees for homeowners in high-risk areas.  “We feel like we can take better care of our citizens,” Morgan said.  That assessment is voluntary. Morgan said, overall, the city and Fire District have to work with the law that was passed. Residents can request an assessment from the Fire District at any time.  “Unfortunately, we have to go with it, roll with the punches per se,” Morgan said.  However, Morgan added there are benefits to the WUI. It requires neighborhood accountability.  “You can do everything that you can to protect your home from a wildfire, but if your neighbors do not do any of that, they are the biggest risk for your structure in the event of a wildfire,” Morgan said. “This gives more bite to make sure everybody is doing what they are supposed to be doing to be more fire resistant.” Expanding the boundaries of the WUI, Morgan said, helps the city get “ahead of the game” when thinking about upcoming growth and development.  The Planning Commission adopted the WUI amendment on Tuesday. The post Heber City shores up wildland urban interface map ahead of future growth appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less