Pearl Meibos and her family spent more than a decade fighting to restore the pioneer-era homestead at 1078 E. North Union Ave. after an expansion of the Fort Union Family Center hemmed in the 1-acre property.

They won virtually every court skirmish they waged, suing Salt Lake County - overseer of the then-unincorporated area - and the shopping center's owner, Hermes Associates, to adhere to building and roadway ordinances.

In the process, the family bolstered "the little guy's" property rights and spurred reform of the rules that govern development subsidies. The landmark case also may have factored in the creation of a statewide property-rights ombudsman and a voter-approved overthrow of the county's three-member commission in favor of a mayor and nine-member-council.

But for Meibos, who savors childhood memories of the two-bedroom, 1920s-era home her grandfather built, those victories are bittersweet.

This month she - along with other family members - is saying goodbye to the ground she fought so hard to keep. After racking up more than $500,000 in legal debt, she agreed last summer to settle the long-standing dispute, selling the homestead for an undisclosed amount to DDR Corp., the Ohio-based company that now owns the Family Center, and releasing the company from a court order to tear down at least part of the Bed Bath & Beyond and Disney Warehouse buildings.

"It was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. . . . I wanted to see those buildings come down. I wanted it so much," Meibos says. "You win all the battles but lose the war."

There goes

the neighborhood

Meibos and her three sisters grew up visiting their grandparents, Eugene and Pearl Croxford, every weekend. The old farm brimmed with colorful flowers - roses, gladioluses, peonies, red emperor tulips and irises - and hearty vegetable gardens of peas, potatoes and cucumbers.

"All of my sisters will tell you we had just really, really happy childhoods," Meibos recalls, "and a lot of that had to do with my grandparents."

Pearl Croxford inherited the property, which dates back to the Mormon pioneers' Union Fort, from her father and passed the homestead down daughter to daughter, ending with Meibos, who never lived in the house.

Meibos' mother and grandfather turned to her when Hermes began buying up neighboring properties to expand the Family Center in the early 1990s. She was then a young paralegal familiar with municipal law.

The family steadfastly refused to sell.

They also challenged a $6 million-plus subsidy package that the County Commission offered to Hermes for the expansion before deeming the Croxford neighborhood "blighted." The Utah Supreme Court later ruled that the commission failed to follow proper procedure and invalidated the property- and sales-tax rebates promised to Hermes.

Meanwhile, Meibos studied building plans Hermes submitted to the county and protested when she found the expansion encroached on the family property and illegally squeezed North Union Avenue to a narrow dead end after a tight, 90-degree turn. She warned that emergency-service vehicles, garbage trucks and snowplows wouldn't be able to access the homestead.

A decade later, in 2006, her grim predictions bore out when first responders, dispatched to help Lance Pyper, a family friend living on the property, had trouble finding the home. Pyper, 46, died from a heart attack.

Despite Meibos' opposition, neither the county nor Hermes altered construction plans. Twenty-five-foot-tall buildings sprang up around the Croxford homestead, sandwiching the house between loading docks for two big-box stores.

"All [Hermes] had to do was leave us alone and build it right," Meibos says. "We had been wronged, and I just couldn't walk away and let them do that."

Fight for rights

Starting in 1994, the Croxford family launched lawsuits against the county and Hermes for violating zoning and roadway ordinances. The issue went to the Utah Supreme Court three times. Each time the justices vindicated the family.

In 2004, 3rd District Judge Tyrone Medley ordered Hermes to tear down portions of the buildings that it "unlawfully constructed" and restore the family's rights of way, including a cul-de-sac on North Union Avenue. Medley noted Hermes "acted willfully and deliberately" by proceeding with the expansion "in the face of notice from plaintiffs" that it breached county statutes.

Last month, the Utah Court of Appeals ruled that the county should cover the family's attorney fees, arguing that penalizing the county would help prevent "collusion" between government and developers in the future. The amount has yet to be determined by a lower-court judge.

"The case sends a big message to both those who are in the business of developing property and to cities and counties," says Ron Russell, an attorney who represented the Croxford family. "You can step up and protect your rights. You don't have to rely on what the city says or does."

Ordering Hermes to raze some of its construction gave "real teeth" to enforcing private property rights, he notes.

Craig Call, former property-rights ombudsman and executive director of the Utah Land Use Institute, touts the Croxford case in his seminars on how to protect individual rights.

"One of the things that was remarkable was the tenacity of the family. It's unusual that somebody would fight so long and hard," he says. "They've accomplished a lot for the average citizen who faces the kind of complicated issues that planning and zoning law involves."

Movin' out

Both Randy Horiuchi and Brent Overson, the former county commissioners who OK'd the expansion, have since expressed regret for how the project was built. In 2005, Overson called his approval "the biggest mistake" of his political career.

Horiuchi, now a county councilman, stands by the expansion as a needed economic booster, but is "truly apologetic" for how the development invaded the Croxford homestead.

"It was never our intent to have the buildings be so imposing," he says.

Salt Lake County Councilman Jim Bradley, the lone dissenting commission vote against expanding the Family Center, says Meibos' struggles also led to redevelopment reforms, reining in local governments when granting subsidies.

"Justice was served," Bradley says. "It just took too long."

This month, Meibos' sister, Alayna Culbertson, who moved into their grandparents' home in 1981 to care for them, will relocate to a new home. But it's doubtful a U-Haul will be able to squeeze through the road to the home's driveway.

Meibos is ready to move on, too. She thinks her mother and grandfather, both of whom died before the final court victory, would be proud of her relentless fight for private property rights.

"I hope this great stand of principle . . . will be helpful to someone," she says. "That's part of what makes you feel good."

rwinters@sltrib.com

Milestones in land battle

* Salt Lake County Commission, in 1994, OKs an expansion of the Fort Union Family Center and offers owner Hermes Associates $6 million in property- and sales-tax subsidies.

* Hermes builds 200,000 square feet of new retail space in three buildings, boxing in the Croxfords' 100-year-old homestead after they refused to sell their land.

* Family files a series of lawsuits against Hermes and Salt Lake County, starting in 1994.

* Utah Supreme Court nullifies Hermes' subsidy deal in 1996.

* State's top court rules in 2001 that Hermes deliberately encroached on the Croxford property and sends the case back to district court.

* Third District judge decides in March 2004 that Hermes violated the Croxford family's property rights and must partially tear down two buildings, restore a 25-foot easement and improve the road to the homestead. The next year, the Utah Supreme Court upholds the ruling.

* Family friend living on the Croxford property dies of a heart attack in 2006 after paramedics run into difficulty finding and accessing the site.

* Croxfords settle with DDR Corp., the developer that bought Hermes, in summer 2007 and sell the one-acre homestead for an undisclosed amount.

* Utah Court of Appeals, in January 2008, rules that Salt Lake County should pay for the family's attorney fees and asks the trial court judge to determine the amount.