Wasatch County and Heber City began talks last year to strengthen protections of the North Fields in response to the Heber Valley Corridor bypass route alternatives. Those protections were finalized by the County Council on Wednesday by way of a memorandum of understanding.  County councilors s aid they expect the Heber City Council to consider adoption in the future. There was previously no formal agreement outlining whether Heber City may develop past 850 North on the west side of U.S. 40.  The County Council sought to expand the scope of a memorandum of understanding with Heber City to include an open space preservation focus. Heber City already reviewed the language of the document.  Now the entities agree that the North Fields will not be included in the city’s annexation boundary. Wasatch County will only zone the area to promote rural agricultural residences. Heber City also committed to allocating unit-based preservation fees from the North Village toward land acquisition and conservation easements in areas north of the Potter Lane intersection.  County Council members stressed that even with protections formalized, conservation easements are the end goal.  “These are just stepping stones towards the larger benefit,” County Council Chair Erik Rowland said.  An interlocal agreement among Heber City, Wasatch County and the city of Midway comes before those conservation easements. While a memorandum of understanding communicates the firm boundary, an interlocal agreement is more legally binding.  Although the County Council unanimously approved the memorandum of understanding, the document states that both entities will work on an interlocal agreement granting “enhanced efforts” for preserving the North Fields.  Heber City and Wasatch County met in February to address the memorandum. That’s also when the entities discussed sending a joint comment to the Utah Department of Transportation that would address concerns shared by the county and Heber City about the chosen bypass route.  Wasatch County eventually sent its own comment to UDOT without full support from the City Council. UDOT is now reconsidering its chosen route and taking into consideration an alternative closer to U.S. 40.  Both entities agree that North Fields protections should be in place no matter what route is selected.  County Councilor Luke Searle said he has been working with City Councilor Aaron Cheatwood about the memorandum since February.  “Heber City will not annex. The county will not rezone in the goal together of preserving the existing zoning that’s there and to preserve what we have there,” Searle said.  Searle added that the important part about working on an interlocal agreement in parallel with the memorandum of understanding is looping in stakeholders, including Midway.  “We’ve got to do this all together to make this happen,” Searle said.  Cheatwood said he does not expect to see any pushback from Heber City on the matter.  “I think generally everybody’s OK with the mentality behind it, and I think we’ve seen a lot of good success in the past with the county MOUs,” Cheatwood said.  The intent is positive for both the county and the city, Cheatwood said. The post Wasatch County formalizes new Heber City agreements for North Fields protection appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less