Mapleton city approved a zoning change on the Wendell Gibby property Thursday night in a move officials hope will end a handful of lawsuits.

Friends of Maple Mountain, a group opposing Gibby's development of the property, gathered signatures for a referendum vote after Gibby was granted a planned development zone on his property. In order to stop the city from working with Gibby before a vote was taken, the group filed a restraining order against the city.

A judge ruled in February that a referendum vote could not be held, but city administrator Bob Bradshaw said the city was still prevented from dealing with the property until the judge signed the final order. In order to end a lawsuit with Gibby, the city was required to fulfill agreements made in a memorandum of understanding, including rezoning the property.

Once the order was signed about a week ago, the city was free to work with Gibby, and a long special session Thursday night led to the rezoning. Bradshaw said the city removed the contingency for final plat approval, and officials believe the city has done its part to end the lawsuit.

"The city, for its part, now deems itself to have fulfilled every obligation outlined by the MOU," he said.

Bradshaw said he hopes the parties will be able to resolve the matter, and all due diligence will be completed in standing by the agreement. As far as the City Council is concerned, he said, the matter is finished, and the lawsuits will soon be dropped.

"That's the expectation, and that's what Dr. Gibby has undertaken to do with the city's granting of the PD-2 zone," he said.

Dayle Jeffs, attorney for Wendell Gibby, said the vote to rezone the property was progress for the parties. Although the lawsuits have not yet been dropped, he said the city and Gibby have been working together for months to get the issue resolved.

"We've got a lot of work, and they've got a lot of work to do," he said.

Jeffs said work on the property has moved a little further in that Gibby will not have to wait for final plat approval to obtain a rezone. The city and Gibby have worked together to resolve the dispute, but Jeffs said he does not doubt residents of Mapleton will still have reservations. "Every time we have a hearing before Mapleton city, some of the residents will be there opposing or protesting it," he said.

Mayor Laurel Brady said the zoning approval is an important step in the process, and it shows the city's willingness to work with Gibby on his development within city laws.

"We think what happened is important," she said. "We believe it was historic."

Brady said it may have appeared the city did not know what it was doing, as Gibby's request was on the agenda for several weeks without action. Instead, Brady said the city could not act until the judge's final order was signed, but officials wanted to be ready when the time came. "We had put it on our agenda," she said. "We wanted to be able to act at the first opportunity."