MAPLETON — From Wendell Gibby's 120 acres on Maple Mountain, the quiet scene that spreads out below contradicts the controversy that troubles the land.
West Mountain frames the far horizon, and majestic Mt. Timpanogos sits to the northeast. In the valley, Utah Lake shimmers in the sunlight, with well-laid-out communities nearly surrounding it.
In the foreground, just below Gibby's property, posh, tree-lined homes sit neatly among manicured lawns.
"That's the nub of the issue," Gibby said of the seven-year battle to develop his mountain property. "Those people don't want houses above them."
A group of Mapleton residents called the "Friends of Maple Mountain" don't want Gibby to build 47 homes on his side of the mountain, and the sides take their struggle before the Utah Supreme Court today. The hearing is another chapter in a number of fights over Gibby's land.
To build or not
That land has U.S. Forest Service property on the south, north and east. There is a site for a 10-acre city park on the northwest side at the base of the mountain and another on the southwest side.
Mapleton initially prevented development of Gibby's property. Gibby fought long and hard and eventually won. The City Council agreed to rezone the land for 47 homes on large lots averaging 1 1/2 acres.
That set off the skirmish between Gibby — a Provo radiologist, not a professional developer — and the Friends of Maple Mountain, who filed a referendum to reverse the rezone. Fourth District Judge Fred Howard dismissed it and the Friends of Maple Mountain appealed to the Utah Supreme Court.
The flap just added to Gibby's duels with Mapleton. Legal fees have cost him more than $1 million, he said. Mapleton has spent even more in taxpayer dollars, pushing $1.3 million, city administrator Bob Bradshaw said.
A licensed pilot, Gibby has stretched a 3,000-foot dirt runway across a wide bench above the home sites. The runway has clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration, but its use is contingent on final approval from the city, Bradshaw said.
The airstrip is just for fun, Gibby said; the land too valuable to leave as a runway.
Tall power lines border the dirt airstrip, but Gibby plans to move them. He wanted to relocate them below his home sites, but that would have put them above the homes in the luxurious Eagle Rock subdivision.
The plan now is to tuck them away high above the airstrip behind a mountain accessed only by a steep, rocky road with treacherous switchbacks.
The road leads to a lookout point, from which dirt roads can be seen clearly cutting into mountain brush, defining Gibby's planned subdivision. The terrain won't be disturbed other than that, he said, and roughly 40 percent of the land cannot be developed because it's too steep.
The lots, expected to be priced in the $500,000 range, would take 10 to 15 years to fill in. The first home likely won't break ground for another five years, according to Gibby's timetable.
Now is not the time to be selling luxury lots, he said, but it is the time to get ready for better economic times.
Mapleton residents react
Gibby's fight with Mapleton began in 2002, when the city tried to enforce prescriptive rights officials said existed for the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which traversed some 2,000 feet down the middle of the flat stretch on the mountain.
Gibby contends the trail would have ruined property worth millions. He has filed for an amendment to the city's rezone, asking for an increase to 54 home lots.
One of Gibby's projects includes construction of an access road off the far eastern end of Maple Street for a well on the mountain. Neighbors contend that action is a ruse to build a second access to his subdivision.
"He's done everything on a lie," said Dee Thatcher, whose home sits near the access road under construction.
Thatcher and his wife, Charlotte, say the road project is illegal because it's being built without necessary permits from the city.
"He hasn't been to the planning (commission), and he hasn't been to the City Council," Dee Thatcher said. "We think the city will give it to him because he's put in several hundred thousand (dollars) and torn up the mountain. The city has no appetite to fight him."
Though city leaders empathize with the Thatchers, Bradshaw said, Gibby has the right to build the road based on uses allowed in a memorandum of understanding signed in May 2008 in an attempt the resolve the long-standing fight.
Still, the city tried to stop Gibby from compacting the road.
"It shakes the whole neighborhood like an earthquake," Charlotte Thatcher said.
City leaders recently agreed to give up on a restraining order to stop the pounding when the court date was set too close to Gibby's hearing for a final plat map.
Earlier this summer, heavy rains hit the area and washed mud and rocks from the roadwork into the Thatchers' backyard. Gibby's crew cleaned up the rocks, but raw clay soil now covers the yard.
"They couldn't clean mud out of lawn. We're waiting to see if the lawn will recover," Charlotte Thatcher said.
The couple consulted an attorney but concluded legal fees would cost as much as they could get out of a judgment against Gibby.
A mountain of court battles
Gibby's fight against city hall is about as muddy.
It started in 2002, when Gibby attempted to stop hikers on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail from crossing his land and tearing down his gate across the trail. He then plowed up the trail, earning him a visit from police and a misdemeanor citation.
"They came to my house and arrested me," Gibby said.
Mapleton city attorney Eric Johnson disagrees.
"They didn't arrest him," Johnson said. "They did cite him for a misdemeanor."
That led to a 19-hour trial — the longest for a misdemeanor in Mapleton and possibly in the state, Bradshaw said. Gibby argued that plowing is legal in areas where agricultural uses are allowed.
Justice Court Judge Dean Olsen convicted Gibby. Earlier, another justice court judge recused himself after making statements that indicated Gibby was guilty before the trial began, Bradshaw said.
Gibby appealed to 4th District Court, a move that automatically voided the conviction.
"The two of us have spent well over $100,000 on this one case in which the plowing incident, this infraction, is … a $50 infraction," Gibby said then.
Fourth District Court Judge Howard Maetani, who heard the appeal, overturned Gibby's conviction after concluding that city officials trespassed on Gibby's land to gather evidence against him.
Bradshaw called the decision "stunningly outlandish. The city was dumbfounded."
City officials couldn't justify using taxpayer funds to appeal the decision, so they dropped the case.
Instead, city leaders attempted to enforce the historical right of way of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail based on prescriptive rights. The city won the initial court fight, but Gibby appealed and the decision was set aside.
That led to legislation introduced by then-Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, that took away the right of cities throughout the state to use eminent domain for trails. The measure passed and was signed into law.
Gibby immediately contended that once the legislation was signed into law, the city had no right to take the trail. However, 4th District Judge Derek Pullan said it didn't apply in Gibby's case because that legal action preceded the legislation. Gibby is challenging that as well, Bradshaw said.
Meanwhile, Gibby sued the city for the right to widen Dogwood Drive, a dirt road that accessed his land. The city said that issue was wrapped into the memorandum of understanding and should be dismissed. On Aug. 17, Judge Fred D. Howard granted that dismissal and also awarded court costs to the city.
The memorandum says the city will widen the drive to match Gibby's end of it on east side, but Gibby wants the city to build its section first. The city, on the other hand, doesn't know how to widen the road until Gibby builds his section, Bradshaw said.
Widening the road on the city's side will tear up some expensive Eagle Rock subdivision landscaping on the city's side, he said.
However, because of the memorandum with the city, 4th District Judge David N. Mortenson in December ordered Gibby to drop his lawsuits and pay the city $80,000 in legal fees.
In another wrinkle, the city's attempt to stop Gibby from developing his land and take the trail led to a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city. Utah Federal District Court Judge Dee Benson stayed that case for three years pending the outcome of the state court cases, Bradshaw said.
"The attorneys are working on getting that case dismissed as well," he said.
Meanwhile, Johnson is going to each court where Gibby has filed lawsuits and is working to unravel the maze and get them dismissed.
Despite the continuing struggle with Gibby and his plethora of lawsuits, Johnson said he still respects the man.
"I recognize he is a man of sterling qualities and virtues," he said, "and he does a ton of good. … We would like to get this resolved."
e-mail: rodger@desnews.com