"If Washington city would look at the long-term implications of annexing that land, it doesn't make sense. St. George is better equipped to provide the infrastructure and safety measures that are required."

Washington city manager Roger Carter said the two cities have been trying to resolve the boundary issue for years, long before he arrived on the job, with no luck. Washington city had been working with the property owners on an annexation petition since 2005, he said, although several of those landowners recently split from the group and now want to be annexed by St. George.

Scott Peterson, the "Las Vegas developer," said he and the other property owners he represents own about 500 acres in the area and would rather be annexed by Washington city.

Carter said that "if Washington city had its druthers, we would like the airport to go somewhere else." He added that the city filed a protest to the replacement airport years ago and later pulled it after visiting with St. George officials about "sharing a piece of the pie."

"St. George doesn't want Washington city to have any land adjacent to the airport," he said.

Such boundary disputes between cities normally are handled by a county boundary commission, which determines which city is best equipped to provide services to the property seeking the annexation.

Under HB362, this type of annexation decision would be left to the municipality that is sponsoring a large, federally funded airport, such as the St. George replacement airport.

According to Guzman, under current law a neighboring city could wait in the wings and let another city pay for the lengthy, expensive airport approval process and then seek to annex property near the airport for its own benefit.

"This bill protects the ability of the municipality constructing and operating a commercial airport to recoup some of the costs of construction and operation of the facility," Guzman said.

St. George Mayor Dan McArthur said he was surprised to read through Clove's letter, and he wonders if the mayor even wrote it. "This is our chance to build a replacement airport, the only one for the foreseeable future," he said. "St. George is putting $60 million into the airport, and we had better be able to oversee the property around it and protect it. It has got to be an economic generator for us."

Tyler Hoskins, whose St. George engineering firm represents landowners with about 164 acres of land in the disputed area, said his clients have found it difficult to work with Washington city and would prefer annexation into St. George.

"The longer this thing is chased through the courts, the more it could delay the airport, and that would hurt all of us," said Hoskins.