David Taysom's gravel drive juts west off Idaho 69, about a quarter of a mile south of Lake Hazel in western Ada County.

Cows stretch their necks across a fence to browse on maple saplings that line the way. The garden is decorated with bits of the history of the long-rural area - remains of wooden-wheeled wagons and a wooden sign proclaiming the Taysom Ranch.

A former Ada County planning commissioner, Taysom has lived here for 11 years. His son built a home next door.

This summer, he got a letter from the post office about changing his Meridian address to Kuna.

"My neighbors in all directions are still in Meridian, including the whole subdivision to the south, and my son Steve, who lives next door, is still Meridian. It just makes no sense," he said.

His confusion and frustration is common out here.

For decades, thousands of acres of farmland and open space separated the farming communities of Meridian and Kuna. Today, Kuna's city limits have extended north to Lake Hazel Road and Meridian's have extended south to Amity Road.

Tuesday, Kuna will consider expanding its planning boundary all the way to Amity Road. Meridian claims it has planned to expand in that area for years and challenges Kuna's right to do so.

Some folks here have long considered themselves part of Meridian, and they want to keep it that way. Others think a new Kuna sewage plant offers the best chance to connect to city services.

With both cities setting their sights on the neighborhoods, residents are being drawn into a land war that impacts everything from taxes, sewage treatment and mail delivery to the very identity of the folks who live here.

OK WHERE THEY ARE - BUT WHERE ARE THEY?

Taysom isn't just upset about maybe having to change his stationery. He is suspicious of Kuna's motives and doubtful of the city's ability to manage growth.

"Kuna is developing in all directions with little forethought, and I prefer to live in Meridian, where growth is being managed in a more open and deliberate way," he said.

"Meridian held many public meetings during their impact planning and is doing a great job going one step at a time," he said. "They aren't annexing outside their area of impact or inside someone else's."

He thinks Kuna should slow down and grow from its center first.

Taysom worries that as Kuna expands past Lake Hazel, it will grow eastward to Idaho 69 and cut him off from Meridian.

"It's leapfrog development, in my opinion, and it's sneaky annexing out in finger-like directions," he said.

But some of his neighbors lean the other way.

Johnny Greenfield operates a custom butcher shop that his parents started 35 years ago at the corner of Ten Mile and Amity roads.

As a graduate of Meridian High, he naturally assumed he would always associate with Meridian.

"We went to several planning meetings in Meridian, and they said they were bringing pressurized sewer lines down Ten Mile," he said. Greenfield said one of his neighbors to the north even ran trunk lines beneath the canal to be ready for connections.

"All of a sudden this summer, they threw it all out and said they were going to start over. Now, they won't even talk to us about sewer service and say it will be 8 or 10 years before it comes here," he said.

Fed up, Greenfield let Kuna know he wanted to be included in their planning boundaries - Kuna recently created a Local Improvement District that will tax residents there to build a $30 million sewage treatment plant to serve the city's growing north side. Greenfield said the option to hook up to city services just makes his land more valuable - and he figures the location of Kuna's plant makes more sense for his neighborhood anyway.

"It doesn't take an engineer to see it's downhill from here," he said.

WOULD-BE MERIDIANITES ARE WARY OF KUNA

Pam Stucker has lived on Lake Hazel for 20 years, is in the Meridian School District and always has had a Meridian address.

"I was shocked when the neighbors said we needed to go to Kuna's council meeting," she said.

Stucker says Meridian did the smart thing years ago by enforcing a minimum house size for new buildings, a decision she believes created a high level of quality for Meridian's growth.

"I love Kuna," she said. "It's quaint, but as a Realtor, I know that having a Kuna address is less desirable than a Meridian address. If we decided to develop our property, it would be better for us to go to Meridian, even if we have to wait for services."

Amy Packer, her husband and their young children moved into a home off Lake Hazel about two years ago specifically to be in the Meridian School District.

"I am more satisfied with how Meridian's planning is going. They seem to be a little more honest and logical and not so confusing," Packer said. "I feel like Kuna is doing things in secret. There's a lot of confusion. They don't plan well, and I just don't want to be a part of that."

Packer fears forced annexation. Kuna's sewer plant needs a broad tax base, and more residents would bring more property tax revenue and add more people to the special taxing district created to pay for the sewer plant.

"I am concerned they could pull us in," she said. "I feel they would be more likely to force annexation on us than Meridian."

Taysom admits that Kuna's expansion isn't likely to surround him any time soon, given the rate of development, but believes Kuna's sewer-funding LID is "a house of cards." If many of the 2,700 members of the district default when the bills come due, city taxpayers could be left with the tab, he said.

"Kuna came to me and my son to convince us to join their LID, and I talked him out of it," he said.

The only way a city can annex land without the landowners' support is if the property is within the city's impact area, and Ada County has authority to set those boundaries. Packer wants the county to pay careful attention to overlap.

"I think there does need to be a referee," she said. "Kuna seems to be quite underhanded. I am worried about what they might get away with if they if nobody is refereeing."

FOR SOME, IT'S A FINANCIAL DECISION

Between the two of them, Richard Jarvis and Craig Groves own about 180 acres between Lake Hazel and Amity.

They want the Kuna City Council to extend its planning boundary past Lake Hazel so they will have a choice of which of the two cities they want to join if they develop the land.

"My decision will be based on the most economical way to go," said Jarvis, who faces Sharon Fisher in a District 21 House race in November. "That sewer plant is less than a mile away, and Meridian's is 7 miles and maybe 20 years away."

Jarvis said most of his neighbors want the option to choose and that few have an emotional attachment to one or the other. Like him, he said, they probably will base any decision on economics.

Becky McKay, with Engineering Solutions, represented Groves at a recent Kuna council meeting. She said that when drawing planning boundaries, the first consideration is the city's ability to provide service to the area in a reasonable amount of time.

"In 2007, Meridian determined the appropriate density for the area would be one dwelling per 3 acres," she said. She said she doubted that services could economically be delivered to an area with such low densities. She's not alone.

"From what Meridian tells me, because they will need a lift station and their pipes will be smaller, they won't have the capacity that Kuna will either," said Paul Taylor, who has had his 40-acre farm between Amity and Lake Hazel for 19 years. "I think they're ten years out. Maybe they'll do the shopping center, but they are discouraging development in this area now."

He said he doesn't care for one city over the other, and has no plans to sell or develop his land. But he wants to keep his options open.

"As far as I'm concerned, we're still Ada County until I file to be in a city. My understanding is this (inclusion in Kuna planning boundary) gives me the choice to annex into Kuna," he said.

Whatever occurs, Taylor says it will be driven by the developers, and they will choose the city that makes it easiest and the most economical. He just wants to preserve the choice.

ONE IDEA: THINK OF THE SCHOOL CHILDREN

One resident in the area has a suggestion that could at least solve the identity issue, if not the questions of economics and sewer treatment.

Many residents identify with their school district, he says.

"I do think that people who live in Meridian's school district tend to think of themselves as part of Meridian and people who live in the Kuna School District tend to think of themselves as part of Kuna," said Eric Exline, spokesman for Joint School District No. 2 in Meridian, who lives on Lake Hazel within the disputed area.

Exline thinks Kuna, Meridian and the county should consider following the school district boundary, which roughly follows Lake Hazel Road.

"It is a logical demarcation," Exline said. "It avoids a lot of complications."

Otherwise, "it is going to be a complete tangled mess," comparable to what happened decades ago with Meridian and Boise. Many kids who live in West Boise go to Meridian schools.

"We know that Meridian and Kuna are eventually going to connect," Exline said. "Why just not learn from that now and not do it again?"

Brad Talbutt: 672-6737Cynthia Sewell: 377-6428