Maxine Kerr said her father, Max Kerr, was surprised a couple of years ago when Davis County nearly quintupled the assessment on his 14-acre property to $516,250.

Even more surprising was the county's recent condemnation of the same property and its attempt to buy it for only $120,000. The land is near I-15 and Burke Lane.Davis County is seeking Kerr's land to add to other acreage near Shepard Creek to create a flood detention basin and wetlands area. The plan to use the property for flood control has been around for years, but an added impetus to get the project finished is apparently a major development under construction to the north of Kerr's property.

Robert Prows and a consortium of developers called PBA want to build a business park, condominiums and retail center on a 120-acre site to be called Farmington Preserve. Plans eventually call for 500,000 square feet of office space and 200 housing units to be distributed among duplexes and six-plexes. Construction of some of the condos has already begun.

"I think if that big development wasn't going in there, the county wouldn't be doing anything," Maxine Kerr said.

County officials say Kerr's land is only worth $120,000 because it is not developable - swampy and below the flood plain in some areas. Maxine Kerr wonders how her father's property can be undevelopable while adjacent property owned by PBA already has condominiums on it.

"It seems really strange to me that he can put condominiums in on the property right next to my father and you step over on my father's land and it's being condemned," she said.

Earlier this year, PBA agreed to provide $550,000 to the county to purchase Kerr's property and other nearby land for flood control. The city of Farmington plans to build a trail through the area, which the city wants to preserve as open space.

County officials readily acknowledge that the PBA development and its promise of funding spurred them to seek Kerr's land and other nearby property now instead of later.

Gerald Hess, Davis County chief civil deputy, said the fact that PBA was putting up the money to buy the property made many in county government feel Prows should be directly involved in the land negotiations.

"What we did was we said, `Mr. Prows, essentially your money is going to pay for this and why don't you take a first shot and see if you can buy it before we get involved in condemnation,' " he said.

Maxine Kerr said neither she nor her father, who has had recent health problems, including a stroke, were aware that Prows was negotiating on behalf of the county. They were shocked when the county suddenly moved to condemn the property.

According to county assessor Willard Gardner, the Kerr property was assessed at $516,250 for the past two years. In 1995, it was assessed at $105,000, but that year the county revalued land in the central part of Davis County based on increases in market value.

Hess said the Kerr property was assessed incorrectly because the methods used by the assessor's office consider general areas and not specific properties. He said the Kerrs could have - and most likely should have - appealed the assessment. Now, state deadlines have passed and it's too late for them to recoup any property taxes paid on the properties. Kerr paid $7,200 in property taxes in 1996.

Although Maxine Kerr said two offers in excess of $500,000 have been made on the property, Hess said he has seen no documentation to support that claim, nor have the Kerrs presented any separate independent property assessments that would lead him to reconsider the county's $120,000 assessment.

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The matter has been referred to 2nd District Court in Layton, and Hess said the county is ready to stand by the court's decision on the value of the property.

"It they have that evidence, if they can persuade the court that it's worth that much, then they will be paid that much," said Hess, adding that PBA would have to provide additional funds if the court decides Kerr's property is worth more than the $240,000 the county has remaining in PBA-allocated moneys for the project.

About Prows' involvement in negotiations, Hess said an outside observer might "take a position that it smells," but he doesn't view it as such, saying the county would only have offered Kerr $120,000 for his property, regardless of who was involved in the negotiations.

"They keep beating up on us by saying we are unfair and trying to steal property from them, and its a great source of consternation to me," he said. "We have an appraisal, and they've got some numbers that they keep telling me about, and I've never seen any of their paperwork."

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