A Rock Canyon landowner took his case to the Utah Supreme Court on Wednesday, hoping to void an annexation by Provo city that happened 20 years before he bought his land.

If the city's 1978 annexation were invalidated, Utah County would be the authority Richard Davis, of Springdell, would need permission from to mine his land. Davis has fought for years with Provo city and other co-owners of the property over whether he can excavate there. Utah County hasn't weighed in on the issue.

David Eckersley, an attorney for Davis, argued before the Supreme Court that a four-year statute of limitations on challenging annexations by Provo city has not yet gone into effect because the city has not levied property taxes against all landowners in the area, namely his client. Eckersley said taxation information that was supposed to be sent to Provo city was instead sent to Utah County. Jody Burnett, an attorney for Provo city, said that because Davis's land is a mining claim, taxes have been paid to the county but not the city.

"It has to be all residents that paid taxes" before the statute of limitations is triggered, Eckersley said.

Davis bought the land in 1998, and Burnett argued that Davis missed the four-year statute of limitations. The taxation issue would allow new landowners to challenge the annexation in perpetuity, he said.

Burnett also disputed claims by Davis's attorneys that the annexation itself was invalid because Provo city did not get a high enough percentage of landowners to sign the annexation petition. Burnett said the city believes the annexation was valid, but said the issue is irrelevant because Davis missed the four-year cutoff.

"We claim [the annexation] was properly handled, but we just don't want to go there. We asked the court to just dismiss the case on the basis that he didn't bring the claim timely within the statute of limitations," Burnett said after the hearing. "We don't think that the issue of whether any of the owners are paying property taxes has anything to do with the validity of the annexation."

In regards to the taxation issue, Justice Jill Parrish asked how it affects a piece of property that has multiple taxpayers, such as Davis's. What right, she asked, does one taxpayer have to impact the restfi

Chief Justice Christine Durham said the results of Eckersley's interpretation of the statute seemed "intentionally absurd."

"You could have an annexation left open for 10, 20, 30, 100 years under your interpretation of the statute," she said to Eckersley.

The 84.5 acres in Rock Canyon on the east side of Provo is co-owned by Davis and Red Slab LLC, which was founded by Phil Lowry and state Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem. Lowry and Valentine gave their share of the land to Provo city for a conservation easement to keep it from being developed. They have contended that they have a say in how the land is used, and that Davis cannot develop it without their cooperation.

Davis has filed more than a half dozen claims in 4th District Court, mostly regarding disputes with other co-owners of the property. The Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on the annexation issue while the rest of the case continues in the 4th District. In January, 4th Judge James Taylor ruled that Davis could remove one truckload and one trailer-load of rock from the land to determine its usefulness.

Durham said the Supreme Court would take the issue under consideration.

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@heraldextra.com.