Provo is still trying to raise the final $1.5 million it needs to pay for the performing arts center. A creative mix of funding sources has raised most of the project's cost without the use of any tax funds.

Provo's court filings were served on Patel on March 2, which gives him until March 22 to respond, said Dayle Jeffs, an attorney representing Patel. At an evidentiary hearing on the motion, Jeffs said Provo would have to call witnesses who could show the city has a right to condemn, that this condemnation is necessary and that the project is for public use. The city must also prove the need for immediate occupancy.

Jeffs is studying whether it is legal for a city to condemn private property for a performing arts center.

Provo's motion anticipated the question. "Although the statute does not specifically mention a performing arts center, it does (say) . . . that cities are authorized to condemn for a long list of specific items and then it states that condemnation is authorized for 'all other public uses for the benefit of any . . . city . . . or the inhabitants thereof.' Cultural facilities are clearly contemplated within these other public uses."

Jeffs represents another Provo resident fighting city hall over eminent domain. The Utah Supreme Court ruled for Newell Johnson when Jeffs argued Provo couldn't condemn his land to build a road connecting Canyon Road and 4800 North at University Avenue because Johnson's property is technically not in Provo — it is part of a 26-acre unincorporated island governed by Utah County.

The county signed an agreement with the city to condemn the property for the city, but Jeffs has asked the state supreme court to throw out the agreement.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com