PROVO -- Mayor Lewis Billings has decided to give up a piece of southeast Provo land that both he and the City Council lay claim to rather than tussle over it in court.
In a brief letter to the council Tuesday, Billings pledged to donate to the Provo Redevelopment Agency 10 acres of property in the area known as Ironton on or before Jan. 7, 2000. The council is expected to accept the nonbinding offer in a resolution next week."Although this letter is not intended to express a legal obligation, I want to confirm my strong and continued support for the redevelopment of the Ironton property," Billings wrote. The Deseret News reported last month that the mayor was considering such a donation to the city to allay a controversy that has dogged him since the municipal election last year.
Rights to the 10-acre parcel have been in dispute since the council decided earlier this year to exercise an option it holds on 149 acres Billings owns.
In 1992, six years before Billings became mayor, he and the city signed an option agreement on the Ironton land allowing Provo to buy it for a paltry $3,000 per acre. The low price was the result of what officials believed to be widespread contamination on ground where a steel mill once stood. Subsequent investigation showed the land isn't as tainted as once thought, and Provo has since reached an accord with U.S. Steel to remove the hazardous waste.
Billings contends the 10 acres was never part of the option agreement and that he has the right to sell it separately. A third party offered him $55,000 an acre earlier this year, but the deal fell through.
The council, however, maintains the option agreement doesn't permit Billings to split of the prime sliver of land adjacent U.S. 89 near the Provo-Springville boundary. It voted to in March to buy all 149 acres for $447,000 to develop as a business park.
The mayor's personal attorney, Richard Hill, said this is a case where "reasonable and honest" people disagree over the interpretation of an ambiguous and vague contract. Hill presented the mayor's proposal to the council in a closed-door session Tuesday. Billings did not attend.
Billings' offer is a compromise of sorts and avoids the awkward and perhaps unprecedented situation of a mayor taking his own city to court.
"It seemed awfully problematic to be suing the city as mayor," Billings told the Deseret News, adding he's making the donation because it is in the best interest of the city.
Council Chairman Greg Hudnall said he didn't think the matter was ever headed for court. "I just really thought it wasn't going to be a big deal. I always thought it (the 10 acres) was going to be ours," he said.
Hudnall described the mayor's offer as a "win-win." While Billings does stand to gain a substantial tax write off with the gift, Hill said it won't be nearly as much as he would have made selling the property. Hill estimates its market value is $60,000 to $100,000 an acre. That isn't lost on Billings, who said he's learning that public service sometimes comes with a "high price."
"Would the outcome be different if I wasn't the mayor? I absolutely believe it would be," said Billings, who earned a living investing in property and business ventures before taking office.
Billings' opponent in the 1997 mayoral election and others made an issue of the Ironton property, saying it was a conflict of interest for the mayor to sell his personal real estate to the city. Hill said those attacks came from politically motivated and misinformed people. Billings relinquished control of 139 acres by placing it in a blind trust earlier this year. He won't receive the proceeds of the sale to the city until after he leaves office.
The mayor also steadfastly avoids meetings on the Ironton property, although he said he would now like to be involved with its development if the council will let him.
"I think I have some ability to help with the project," he said.