The Midway City Council will dedicate $750,000 toward preserving 18 acres of farmland within the town limits, known as the Heart of Midway property.
That’s in addition to $250,000 from a previous open space bond, bringing the town’s total contribution to $1 million.
Utah Open Lands Executive Director Wendy Fisher said at a meeting Tuesday, July 7, four neighbors own the land along Center Street.
“We really felt that this project was something that the landowners were committed to, that really brought together what we consider to be the best of this concept of bringing smaller parcels in the community throughout the town of Midway together, to provide for sort of some collective open space,” she said.
The Heart of Midway land is worth an estimated $5 million. Preserve Midway has also raised tens of thousands of dollars for the conservation easement, and the landowners are contributing $1.8 million in value.
That still leaves more than $2 million to raise through donations and grants.
Midway City Councilmember Kevin Payne said the Heart of Midway easement will showcase the town’s “eclectic look.”
“We’re preserving history,” he said. “We’re preserving what has been created by families that have been here for a long, long time.”
The money will come from an open space bond voters approved in 2024.
Midway’s funding pledge comes about a week after the Wasatch County Council committed $2 million for the Lundin conservation easement.
The Lundin farm comprises about 120 acres south of Wasatch Mountain State Park, near the Homestead and Zermatt resorts. Work on the easement has been in progress for years.
County councilmembers said in 2022 they’d use part of an open space bond to help fund the farm’s conservation, but disagreements among the Lundins over the future of the land have caused delays. The council’s July 1 vote finalized the funding, as long as all legal issues are resolved.
Fisher said she’s grateful for the county’s support.
“This has been a labor of love in every way, from the landowners to the attorneys to the council to Utah Open Lands,” she said.
Utah Open Lands is working to raise an additional $4.5 million to fund the Lundin easement.
