The Lundin family, who have been working toward preserving their Midway property since 2023, might be abandoning their bid to establish 119 acres of land west of the city as a conservation easement.
“It is with a heavy heart that I write this. For the first time since my wife passed away, I have tears in my eyes — not just for my family, but for the future of our community,” Randy Lundin wrote in an Ask Midway Facebook group on Jan. 6.
Lundin wrote about legal hurdles pertaining to water rights and the process of committing their land to open space efforts. The post does not specifically state that the family will not be moving forward with a conservation easement, but Lundin expressly warns against pursuing open space agreements in Midway.
Both the Lundin’s legal counsel, Brandon Mark, and Midway City Mayor Celeste Johnson, have responded in regard to Lundin’s social media post.
Johnson said she was surprised to see the Lundin family is “abandoning their pursuit.”
“I thought this may be a good opportunity to clarify some apparent misunderstandings, particularly in light of Randy Lundin’s broad statement warning against pursuing a conservation easement in Midway,” Johnson wrote on the Midway City news page.
Johnson addressed Lundin’s concerns regarding water shares as collateral for the $3 million advance open space bond funds payment requested by the Lundin family from the city and the county. This, she said, made it easier to work around the family’s legal battles.
Johnson said that the Lundin land itself could not have been used as collateral due to the ongoing lawsuit against the property.
“Midway City remains committed to working toward a conservation easement on the Lundin property if the family wishes to proceed, with the understanding that the city simply cannot put taxpayer money at risk,” Johnson wrote.
Mark said that it was not so simple.
“We had been discussing a deed of trust mechanism,” Mark said. “I was in the trenches negotiating that.”
While a deed of trust is used as a tool to protect client funds, escrow accounts are normally effective in holding and disbursing funds as specified in the purchase agreement. Mark said, for the Lundins, a trust deed is preferable.
According to Mark, the Lundin family would like to enter into a conservation agreement if possible, but that the family was unsure if they would be able to move forward in the process.
“Right now we’re in Limbo,” Mark said.
The Lundin family has been in the process of turning their 119 acres into conservation easement since 2023. In November, 2024, Wasatch County Council voted to approve $2 million toward purchasing the Lundin family’s easement against the advice of Deputy County Attorney Jon Woodard.
At the time, siblings Michael Lundin and Nora Lundin were in the midst of settling a legal struggle with their brother regarding the property. Another lawsuit, one filed in July, 2024, by Robert Fuller against the Lundin family farm, land and mobile home companies, further complicated the matter.
At the request of Utah Open Lands, Heber City granted an extension to seek more time for the conservation agreement to be initiated.
Midway City Planner Katie Villani said that $1 million has been committed by the city with the remaining Open Space Bond Funds voted in after the 2018 election.
Wendy Fisher, executive director of Utah Open Lands, has been working with the Lundins since the start of their bid two years ago. In 2024, she supported the Lundin’s efforts to secure Open Space Bond funding from Midway City Council and Wasatch County Council.
In December, Fisher said that the process had been “more than complex” and required “patience as well as a bit of faith.”
Fisher said that no official decision has been made at this point.
“As far as I understand, and I’ve had continual meetings, everybody is still hopeful that we can come to a solution,” Fisher said.
At a Wasatch County Open Lands board meeting Monday, Fisher gave an update.
“Whether or not there’s time to move forward and save that, it still remains a possibility. Part of what we’ve done is a deep dive into some of the water share collateral issues that everybody talked about,” Fisher said. “But we have full funding for that, we believe, or are close to full funding for that. But there’s a lot of things that would need to be dealt with.”