There are many issues facing Highland in this election. Here are the top ones on my list. If I’m missing something you think is important, please let me know!

The city has received a request to allow on-prem alcohol sales in restaurants. This would alter the long-standing prohibition on beer sales in Highland and would change the no-alcohol-sales requirement in the commercial zone north of Timpanogos Highway. Highland would still not allow off-prem sales of alcohol — such as in a gas station or grocery store.

Highland has always and consistently opposed alcohol sales in the city. (While there are alcohol sales at the country club, it pre-dated the city and was therefore grandfathered in.) Just like single-family homes on large lots, I see this as a key thing the community values — or has valued, at least, up until now. Because of this long history of prohibiting alcohol sales, I am opposed to changing Highland’s laws unless it’s clear that our community values have changed. I see this as a community values issue before it is a policy issue.

If I’m elected, my vote will be heavily informed by the survey results. If those results don’t convince me that Highland’s values have changed, I’ll vote to deny the request.

I’m personally in favor of on-prem alcohol sales in restaurants. I just see this as a case where what’s right for Highland is more important than my personal opinion. At this point I’m not convinced that alcohol sales is what’s right for Highland — because I see it as a community values issue. If I’m elected, I can promise you that I’ll always make decisions based on what I think is right for Highland, regardless of what I might personally prefer.

Well, the results are in: 62% in favor of on-prem alcohol sales in Highland versus 38% opposed. That’s more than enough to convince me that community values have changed, and if I’m elected I’ll vote to approve the request for on-prem alcohol sales.

The city has received a request for what amounts to exclusive use of the Lone Peak fields just north of the high school by SURF Soccer (although families and individuals would still be able to use them in off hours). In exchange, they will pay the city $200,000, install some improvements, and maintain the fields. They report there are generally 100-150 Highland players in their teams each season.

I am disinclined to take community resources like these fields and grant largely exclusive use of them to a private group. What they’re asking for is different than reserving a pavilion for a family party. It’s essentially letting them reserve the entire field area for 10 years.

I recognize that $200,000 (plus the cost of fertilizer) is not a trivial amount of money. But the request is not a trivial one, either.

I opposed the request a few years back to lease part of Highland Glen Park to a private entity, and I’m inclined to oppose this request, as well.

Last time the Highland general plan got an overall update was February 2008. That’s too long; we need to revisit it. This is one of the major tasks this Council will address — because the general plan sets up planned zoning for currently undeveloped areas of the city, among other things. It isn’t just a Highland issue; it’s perhaps the Highland issue.

We need to ensure any new development is done in a way that doesn’t negatively affect the overall feel of Highland.

We need to ensure new development does not make our water situation even worse.

We need to ensure all new development — private and public — is sustainable.

I want to increase the attention that water gets in the general plan. (See “Water” below.)

I also want to come up with a plan for the 1.7 acre lot across the street from City Hall. We’ve already missed out on the best opportunity to use this land — if we’d planned something before all the development went in, we might have been able to form a real city center with the new development facing in toward it. That ship has largely sailed, but we can still create a multi-purpose community center on that land and turn our city center into a real destination.

Now, I’m not advocating for a bond or for increased taxes to pay for this. No, way.

The reason we need to make a plan is so we can begin fundraising for it. We can’t raise any money if the pitch is “sometime we’re going to do something with that vacant lot; please give us some money to do it.” But if we have a plan — and an artist’s conception of what that plan might look like, we can begin a capital campaign.

If we don’t have a plan, nothing will happen.

One of the key Highland issues is our long-term budget. We do a good job budgeting for the current/coming year, but Highland is at a point where infrastructure is beginning to fail.

As I write this, a section of the water main under Timpanogos Highway is shut off because it was leaking water onto the road. This is not the only old, nearing-the-end-of-its lifespan section of water pipe in Highland. And water pipes are not the only aging infrastructure in the city.

We need to look out 20 years at what our infrastructure needs will be and ensure we have a plan to meet them.

This doesn’t need to mean increasing fees or taxes.

Perhaps we conclude that we’re good for the next 10 years and then we have a major expense for which we won’t have funds available. We could decide that the right answer is to issue a bond in 10 years just like we did to put in the current pressurized irrigation system.

But we need to know.

If 10 years from now we can expect $100 million in infrastructure costs, we probably do need to raise fees. I don’t think we’re going to find this sort of staggering, unfunded liability, but at this point I don’t think there’s anyone who can rule it out on more than guesswork.

We’ve got a bunch of aging playgrounds. Do we have a plan for how and when to repair them?

How about the city buildings? How about the sewer system?

What other capital expenses should we be planning and budgeting for?

If I’m elected to the city council, sitting down with staff and answering these questions is going to be right on the top of my list.

This last year, it seemed like too much water was our biggest concern. But we all know differently. Water is a Utah issue, and it is a Highland issue.

Pressurized Irrigation Water Issue

We need to conserve PI water to ensure we’re ready for drier years and to avoid overtaxing our system’s capacity.

This is a fairly immediate concern, both because we’re already at a point that we need to stagger watering to ensure sufficient pressure and because any year could be really dry again.

When I ran in 2019, I advocated requiring some xeriscaping in all new development. It wasn’t until 2023 — an election year — when the Council finally did so. I applaud that action, but we need to do more.

I think one of the best things we can do right now is to showcase homes that have put in attractive xeriscaping. Let’s show people that xeriscaping doesn’t mean just filling an area with rocks (and subsequently weeds).

As we get closer to having a metered PI system, we should educate people on the savings from just xeriscaping a park strip. In fact, we can and should start this now.

Culinary Water Issue

Our culinary water comes entirely from wells, so we aren’t at the mercy of year-to-year variations in precipitation. But that doesn’t mean we’re completely free of worry. We recently had to lower one of our pumps because the water level had dropped too low.

The new well we’re putting in will help a great deal. It’s deeper, and it has more capacity.

Still, the water district has allocated more water rights than the aquifer can naturally recharge. So, if everyone uses their full allocation of water, even our new well will eventually run dry.

We need to conserve culinary water — along with everyone else with water rights on those same aquifers — to ensure we continue to have water for household use.

I don’t want to be alarmist. The culinary water situation won’t be a problem this year. It won’t be a problem next year. It likely won’t be a problem 10 years from now. But if we don’t do something, it will be a problem. And if we make just minor improvements every year, we won’t get to the point where it is a problem.

I think everyone knows that a key Highland issue is roads and road maintenance.

Highland is five years into the road maintenance plan, and we’re 2.5 years behind. Partly, we underestimated costs because inflation has been higher than projected — especially wrt construction. Partly, we’re doing more involved maintenance than forecast.

We must maintain our roads to an acceptable level. In some cases, I don’t think we are currently.