Whether to use Midway open space bonds for the Lundin family conservation easement is still on the table, and the deadline has once again been extended.
Funds for the project have been obligated since 2023, but obstacles have sprung up in the way of a smooth deal. Multiple lawsuits, including ones within the Lundin family, have stalled the conservation easement transition.
Now, one lawsuit is out of the way. Wasatch County is still on board with their obligated $2 million in open space bonds funds, approved in August 2022. And, Midway officials unanimously approved to extend the deadline to July 1.
The city has obligated $1 million for the conservation easement effort.
“Everybody is still in the boat, if you will, at this point,” said Wendy Fisher, Utah Open Lands executive director. “That is why Utah Open Lands is here on behalf of this project to request an extension from the April deadline to the end of June so that we can work with city staff, county staff.”
One speed bump was Robert Fuller’s lawsuit against the Lundin Land Company for breach of contract in July 2024. Fuller claimed that the Lundin siblings didn’t honor the agreement they made with him and Randy Lundin where he and Fuller would be allowed a sale price that matches what the Lundin siblings would assign to the land.
A Fourth District Court judge ruled in February that the right of first refusal is not applicable in that situation, Fisher said.
The deal to establish the Lundin family’s 119 acres of land as conservation easement has also been held up by the issue of using water shares as collateral for the $3 million advance open space bond funds payment requested by the family from the city and county.
“I think that there may still need to be a discussion about what a deed of trust is versus the water shares. I believe that the Midway City attorney fairly clearly defined it at the end of the process,” Fisher said. “I don’t feel comfortable saying that all of that is understood. I think there are other possible ways that we might want to move forward with this purchase of sale agreement.”
At a Midway City Council meeting on April 15, Fisher also addressed the matter of working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a federal agency that provides financial assistance to landowners to help them conserve their land and natural resources.
Midway City Council members expressed their doubts that funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service would pull through in wake of the Trump Administration’s budget cuts and funding freezes across federal agencies.
“I do not have a crystal ball into what the administration is going to freeze, unfreeze or how they’re looking at things,” Fisher said. “I don’t honestly have the answer as to what is going to happen next. I wish I did. I still wouldn’t play the stock market.”
The council approved an extension for the Lundin conservation easement and will discuss the matter again in early July.