Payson Mayor’s Message

Citizens and Friends of Payson,

All I can say is WOW! What a year 2020 was!

In last year’s mayors message, I referred to 2020 as perfect vision. Little did we know what was ahead of us! I’m glad that it is behind us now.

I know, we still have the COVID-19 virus to deal with, but at least we have a vaccine now and more options on the way. We can finally begin the process of getting back to normal — not a new normal, but a normal that allows us to use the lessons we have learned to improve the way we live and interact with each other.

The challenge that we still have as elected officials and citizens is to continue to get as close to perfection as possible. I know that together we can accomplish this goal.

Since my letter last year, we have accomplished some of our goals and continue to make progress on the remaining ones, and we have set some new ones. Here is an update on just a few of them. - We have completed our General, Master, and Specific plans and adopted them. Now we must implement them as we interact with developers and businesses wanting to become part of our community. We continue to experience unprecedented interest in our city, I believe it will continue. We must and will be ready for it.

Ongoing development and future plans: - Development at the Payson Gateway location (the old Hillman Baseball Complex at 800 South and 800 West). We are working with Woodbury, the owner of the property, to attract an anchor store. Since the completion of the complex, Café Rio has located there and there has been heightened interest expressed by potential anchor stores and support businesses. - Due to the development of the Payson Gateway project, plans are well underway by the city and the Utah Department of Transportation to install a four-way signal light at 930 West and 800 South, the current entrance to the Gateway development. - Utah Valley University has bought 38.9 acres from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for a satellite campus. The location of the property is east of the Nebo Power Station and the Payson City Vehicle and Streets department buildings. The recently approved new Payson I-15 interchange will be located just to the east of the UVU campus. The interchange is not currently funded, but it is an approved project. We are working with our state government representatives, our senator, the governor’s office and UDOT to obtain the necessary funding to build the interchange. We are planning on having a new FrontRunner station at the new interchange adjacent to the UVU campus. - The Red Bridge development, which includes a 13-acre campus for Mountainland Technical College, continues to make progress. This project will include development of retail outlets, business office space and an assortment of housing needs. This project is being designed with the goal in mind for a second FrontRunner station. - The Holdaway property, located on the east side of our city at approximately 2100 West State Road198, has been annexed into the city and is currently being developed. It will have an assortment housing developments, including a 55-and-older community, an assisted living complex and approximately 8 acres reserved for retail outlets. - We are building six new baseball fields to replace the fields that are being removed due to the Payson Gateway development. The work on the baseball fields, four Little League fields (baseball/softball fields) and two Pony League fields is currently ahead of schedule due to the mild winter we are experiencing. - After a year of planning and negotiations, we have announced that the Parris RV (Recreational Vehicles) dealership will be coming to Payson. It will be located by the north Main Street I-15 northbound onramp. The dealership will be located on 25 acres to the northeast of the old Flying J location. - As a result of funding we received for the COVID-19 pandemic, we sponsored a Payson business/citizen stimulus program. The city sent out five coupons to each family in Payson worth $50. The coupons were to be used at any participating business in Payson. They could use all five coupons at one business or at a mixture of businesses. If they used the coupons at five different businesses, they could enter a drawing to win one of seven $200 gift cards. According to citizens and businesses, the stimulus was a great success! - Also as a result of COVID-19 funding, the city is planning to replace its old billboard on I-15 with a new digital billboard. It will be used to keep our citizens informed of city events, chamber of commerce events, retail businesses events and other items of note. - For nearly three years, we have been working on a new city branding project. It has been an honor for me to be part of this effort that will set the tone for our city for years to come. Our new tag line will be “Home to Adventure.” In the not-too-distant future, we will be rolling out this new and exciting change. There will be opportunities for all of you to participate. Please look for and take advantage of the ways you can become involved.

These are just a few of the many project that we are working on. There are many more ongoing projects and others in the planning stages that I do not have space to include in this article.

We have many opportunities to plan for and benefit from, they are coming! We must be ready for them.

As I have said in previous articles. I believe that we can enjoy all the benefits of that growth and avoid the negative side effects. Please help us to protect our community and our values as we grow. Thank you!

Bill Wright Payson City Mayor