The Lundin farm is about 120 acres of agricultural land right next to Wasatch Mountain State Park, and can be seen from across the Heber Valley. It was established in the late 1800s by Mike Lundin’s grandfather, John, who set up a dairy there.
"In 1898, he built a milk barn with a concrete floor. He made the concrete himself. He used slack, lime and sand," he said. "He was a real genius at making things without any money. He built all of his own equipment and stuff."
Lundin, now a farmer himself, co-owns the property with his siblings. But he said the farm doesn’t belong to him; it belongs to his grandparents.
"That's why we want to keep this place, because there's so much sweat and blood and tears in the ground here," he said.
But some siblings disagree. The family has been entangled in a legal battle over what to do with the farm for years. Mike Lundin and two of his siblings said they want to keep it as farmland. To do that, Utah Open Lands is seeking to purchase a conservation easement on most of the property.
"What I think that the Lundins have been facing is the same thing that a lot of landowning families face," said Wendy Fisher, executive director of Utah Open Lands. "Everybody sees the landscape with a different lens, and they see different values."
According to an Open Lands funding request to Midway City, the intent of the easement is to provide cash to family members who would prefer to sell the property.
According to the request, the land is worth about $12 million, while an easement would be valued at about a few million less. Utah Open Lands has been seeking funding from multiple sources. Wasatch County has already committed $2 million to the project.
Open Lands requested another $1 million from Midway City, which approved a bond for open lands in 2018. The city council voted to approve the request at its meeting June 20.
Open Lands is requesting additional funding from the federal Natural Resource Conservation Service, as well as a state program that gives grants for these types of easements. Wasatch County had made getting those funds a condition to receive its $2 million. But at the city council meeting, Mike Lundin's sister Nora convinced the council against a similar stipulation.
"We're willing to do it for the $3 million," she told the council. "If we can't get any more money, we're OK with that."
An August 2022 Open Space Advisory Committee meeting estimated it would take about $3 million to buy out the family members who want to sell. That would leave no money for those who want to keep the farm.
Mike Lundin agreed with his sister that they’re OK with that. But more money would be nice.
"Obviously, we'd like to get more money to fix fences and improve the farm," he said. "Maybe buy a friendlier bull."
But Fisher said that $3 million may not be enough, so Open Lands will continue to seek more funding. She said the local commitments do improve the chances of getting funds from other sources.
"Before there were open space bonds in some of these local communities, Utah the state was losing out on federal funding because there was no dedicated commitment from local sources," she said.
While the Midway City Council didn’t require those federal funds as a condition of city funding, it did stipulate the city can put an emergency access road on the property. That’s for the benefit of nearby subdivisions that have only one road out. Lundin said he isn’t thrilled about it.
"When I began in my short life, I didn't feel like I was a prostitute. But I do now," he said. "Because of what I've had to knuckle under and accept."
But given the threat to the land now, he said he’s willing to go along with it. He said he feels a sense of responsibility to his family who lived there before, as well as the families who live there now.
There’s a trailer park on about seven acres of the property. It’s not part of the easement, but Lundin said if the farm was sold to developers, the park would be gone, too.
"Every one of them trailers is too old to move," he said. "They'd be homeless. And every family has little kids. It's not a bunch of drug addicts and alcoholics. It's actual little families and hard working people.”
On Aug. 25, the family will discuss whether or not the funds raised will be sufficient to resolve the dispute.
