Heber Plaza Play

At Heber City’s 3.7‑acre Main Street Park—now slated as the Trailhead Plaza—Roger Brooks’ 134‑page vision sketches an extravagant amenity complex featuring a 12,000‑sq‑ft iron ribbon, a splash pad, and glass kiosks. Each component harks to Walt Disney’s neon dreams in a place that historically favoured agricultural age. The yard, already home to a $3.5 million bandshell, is being further buffed by Terracon Consultants, who will supply three cost bands—low, medium and high—around an overall $23 million cap. The ROI, calculated on a 10‑year payback using boutique hospitality revenues, collapses to a marginal 3%, far below the 10‑to‑15 percent average for new civic assets in Park City’s comparable zones. Aesthetic credentials suffer: oxidized copper ice ribbons would guzzle chrome into winter days rather than reflective winter light, and the splash pad’s 60‑to‑90 jets would appear as a precarious splash of laser‑wrapped sand, irritating to the local palate. The council’s split vote—Mayor Heidi Franco and Councilor Morgan Murdock opposed, others acquiesced after lobbying—shows risk aversion but also a willingness to surrender public trust for the illusion of progress. My recommendation: Sell.