“My neighborhood is actually quite divided,” said Maeser Neighborhood Chairman Scott Messel. “Everybody's for a park, but where it is tends to be what people don't agree on.”

The tussle over the park has churned anew - largely between residents and city housing authorities - since the discovery last month of an old deed.

The 108-year-old document from the hand of Charles Edwin Loose maintains that an acre he deeded to the Provo School District adjacent to the Maeser school should forever remain a playground or be returned to his heirs.

The deed surfaced in the middle of a complex block-redevelopment plan to transform the old school into affordable senior housing units and surround it with 12 moderately priced single-family homes.

A park would displace four or five lots, threatening the intricate web of funding for the restoration plan, says Provo Housing Authority Director Doug Carlson.

So while the plot twist has put city housing officials in a quagmire, park backers have seen it as a modern-day miracle.

But now some residents of the central Provo block aren't so sure a park is in their best interest.

“People are getting tired of the park idea,” resident Stephanie Booth said. “I would really like to see the homes, all 12 of them, go up across the street. I don't see how having another park will help that much.”

Adds Scott Slater, who has lived in Maeser for three years and is building one of the homes on the block: “We have four parks within walking distance - I don't really see the need for the new park.”

Still, park supporter Sariah Hillam recently presented 130 signatures to the Provo City Council showing support for the park.

“We really, really need a park in that location,” she told the council. “Our children have no way to get to a park unless they cross a main street.”

Resident Michael Horito maintains at least 90 percent of the neighborhood's residents want a park at the Maeser site, above all else.

“To say that those homes are going to bring families that are going to live in our neighborhood for 10 to 15 years, I just don't see it happening,” Horito said.

How the park and deed questions will be resolved remains a question. Attorneys for the housing authority's title insurance company are examining the matter.

In the end, Horito and other park proponents may have the most valuable ally.

Loose's great-grandson and living heir, Ed Peterson, plans to carry out his ancestor's wish.

“I would very much like to see a park there,” said the Vernal lawyer and deputy county attorney for Uintah County. “My interest is only to ensure that what my great-grandfather had in mind is accomplished, if possible. I'll see his wishes through, if I can.”

thollingshead@sltrib.com