North Salt Lake and Salt Lake City are battling for "home court advantage" in their volley over foothill lands.

The latest salvo comes as the two municipalities fight over where two separate court cases involving more than 80 acres of undeveloped land should be heard — in Davis or Salt Lake counties.

Salt Lake City maintains the cases should come to 3rd District court in Salt Lake County while North Salt Lake is arguing the cases should be heard in Davis County's 2nd District Court.

This past week, Salt Lake City attorneys filed motions that would work to move North Salt Lake's petition to disconnect the land to 3rd District Court. In return, North Salt Lake attorneys filed a motion that would move Salt Lake City's attempt to condemn 13 acres of the disputed foothill land to 2nd District Court.

While the attorneys agree that the condemnation action and the disconnect petition should be combined, they disagree on the venue.

"For some reason they're afraid to be up in Davis County," North Salt Lake attorney Brent Hatch said. "Maybe they're hoping a Salt Lake County judge would be more favorable towards them."

For the past year, Salt Lake City has denied North Salt Lake's repeated petitions for control of the 80 acres of foothill property, which is owned by North Salt Lake but sits inside Salt Lake City's borders. North Salt Lake hopes to put housing on 20 of the acres, use 10 for a cemetery and build groomed trails on the rest. Salt Lake City wants the land, located in the foothills, to be preserved as open space.

In May, the Salt Lake City Council denied a request to disconnect the property from Salt Lake boundaries, an action that would have allowed it to be annexed into North Salt Lake. The council also directed staff to create a new zoning classification that would forbid any development.

Those actions were compounded by a rally last month, where Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson announced he would petition for a condemnation order on about 13 of the 80 acres.

"We can go forward even if the venue is changed to Salt Lake County. We'll fight the battle one way or another," North Salt Lake city manager Collin Wood said.

Deputy Salt Lake City attorney Morris Haggerty, who is handling the case for Salt Lake, was out of the office and unavailable for comment.

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E-mail: nandrews@desnews.com; bsnyder@desnews.com