SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - An appeal of the ruling upholding Salt Lake City's sale of one block of Main Street to the Mormon church does not appear likely, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah.

Plaintiffs have until New Year's Day to file an appeal.

Dani Eyer, executive director of the ACLU of Utah, said she has not heard back from the organization's national headquarters about appealing, and it does not appear as if anyone is preparing to continue the fight.

"I'm assuming I would have heard something by now if they were gearing up," she said.

In October, a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the sale of the block to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which turned it into extension of its Temple Square gardens.

Judges said the sale was not an endorsement of the church by city leaders, and they rejected the plaintiffs' claim that the street should remain a public sidewalk where free speech is allowed.

The city initially sold the block to the church in 1999 for just over $8 million. In that sale, the city reserved a public-access easement, but gave the church the right to block on-plaza protests, proselytizing and other behaviors.

The ACLU and other plaintiffs sued, contending the church could not curtail free speech or other First Amendment rights in a public easement. The 10th Circuit upheld the ACLU's claim in 2002.

Mayor Rocky Anderson brokered a deal with church leaders to trade the easement for $4.5 million in property on the city's west side to build a community center.

The ACLU challenged the deal, but the appeals court said that in giving up the easement, the city gained roughly 10 times its market value and rightfully disengaged itself from a potential constitutional entanglement with the church over control of the plaza.

Information from: Deseret Morning News, http://www.deseretnews.com