Owner offers Mapleton land — for $8 million

MAPLETON — The man who tore up a section of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail that crossed his property on Maple Mountain has offered to sell his 120 acres on the mountain to the city for $8 million.

Wendell Gibby also has given Mapleton until noon today to make a decision.

That's too soon for city officials, who have an annual budget of only $2.6 million and would have to secure land preservation grants or put a bond measure on the November ballot to meet Gibby's asking price. They have scheduled a closed-door meeting for Monday to discuss the proposal and won't make a decision at least until a regularly scheduled City Council meeting on Wednesday, when a representative from the Trust for Public Lands is expected to make a presentation about a possible grant to help the city purchase the land.

Mapleton Municipal Court Judge Dean Olson convicted Gibby in March of illegally plowing up the trail and other areas of his mountain acreage and ordered him to restore the road. Gibby has appealed the conviction in 4th District Court.

Meanwhile, the city's civil case, filed in an attempt to use its powers of eminent domain to take the trail for public use is on hold as the sides attempt to reach a settlement. The city recently offered Gibby $1,500 in exchange for an easement that would ensure public access to the trail across his property, but Gibby rejected it.

City manager Bob Bradshaw said the trail is necessary for fire trucks to use in the event of a fire on Maple Mountain. City attorney Eric Johnson said he believes a historic right-of-way for the trail already exists, but that issue is part of the civil case.

Gibby has talked to U.S. Forest officials about a possible land swap that would move the trail or road off his land. Those talks are continuing, he said.

As for the larger land issue, Mapleton leaders want to preserve the mountain from development while Gibby wants to create several estate-view lots on the Bonneville Bench land.

Gibby said he would welcome an end to the dispute by selling his land to the city, but the sides appear far apart. An appraiser for the city will value the land based on its current condition, Bradshaw said, while Gibby bases the value on potential profit — $11 million — from finished lots.

City leaders have been working to preserve the mountain through a complex ordinance that allows hillside landowners to sell their building rights to developers, who then transfer those rights to the valley floor. The transfer allows them to increase density in neighborhoods originally zoned for larger lots and fewer homes.