A key deadline has come and gone, and Nora Lundin says her family’s Wasatch County farm may not be preserved.
This comes after five years of negotiations, multiple votes by Midway and Wasatch County officials, and interfamily lawsuits over the future of the 120-acre property near Wasatch Mountain State Park.
“[I’m] just heartbroken and just completely and absolutely beaten down, because we thought this was going to happen, and we have worked so hard to do this,” she said.
Earlier this month, Midway city councilmembers voted to disburse $1 million in open space funds as soon as a few details were finalized.
But stakeholders said in subsequent conversations, it proved impossible for everyone to agree on the terms of the proposed easement.
A major sticking point is the water shares connected with the land. Lundin said her family needs to keep the water rights to apply for federal conservation funding.
But Midway Mayor Celeste Johnson said the city needs collateral to give the Lundins the open space funds. She said the city would hold the water rights in escrow until the easement paperwork is filed, then return them to the family.
That’s just one of the issues the parties can’t see eye to eye on. The delayed agreement might not have been a dealbreaker – but for some members of the Lundin family who preferred not to place the land under an easement.
The family reached a legal settlement back in May. One condition of the settlement was that the conservation easement be finalized by Dec. 15. Now, Lundin said she’s not sure it’s possible to reach an agreement that will work for everyone.
“I put all my energy into this,” she said. “I really don’t know what the next step is, but I do know that we have financial responsibility to my brother and sister-in-law that don’t live here. We have to do something. We can’t just keep going the way we’ve been going.”
That could mean selling the land to a developer if the easement falls through.
Like Lundin, Utah Open Lands Executive Director Wendy Fisher called the stalemate “heartbreaking.”
“At the core of what Utah Open Lands does is we protect these lands that we all love,” she said. “And so, when you put in hard work and effort and it doesn’t look like you’re going to be able to achieve it, it’s sad because you end up losing something you love.”
The Lundins have farmed their Wasatch County land since 1892, longer than Utah has been a state.
Fisher said the land is worth more than the $3 million Wasatch County and Midway have pledged toward the easement.
“There’s no question that the Lundins would have been making a contribution of value,” she said. “One of the challenges in land conservation is you’re never going to approach what a developer might pay to buy the fee title and develop the land.”
But Johnson, the Midway mayor, said she’s still optimistic the parties can make an agreement at the eleventh hour.
“We are still hopeful, and we will continue to work towards a successful conservation easement,” she said.
She said city staff have been in conversation with everyone involved, including the Lundin family members who set the mid-December deadline, trying to arrive at a solution.
