I'm not siding with either factions and I'm basing each decision on who is the better ruler for the cities and towns. Maven Blackbriar definitely shouldn't be ruling Riften in my opinion so I always hand out Winterhold to the Imperials instead.

If you are not taking sides then I think you should still lean towards the Imperials, with the intention to preserve status quo.

This was so stupid I just ended up doing the civil war quest line so I could avoid this "truce" quest again.

Stormcloaks won the civil war so there was no treaty!!!

Kililled off the StormCloaks earlier so no truce.

By ending the war. RIP, Ulfric Stormcloak. (Could have just as easily been the Empire, though. The winner was decided by a coin toss.)

I did the main quest early. I had little or no understanding of the issues at the peace conference.

So I tried to get a win-win, giving something to both the Imperials and the Stormcloaks, which seemed to work.

After 120 hours, I haven't encountered any negative consequences (other than the happenstance of who is now a Jarl, and who is in exile). Of course, I may be missing something.

I have the same general rule for the truce, but Black-Briar will always be ruling Riften unless you kill them all or something.