A months-long fight over who controls rural land west of Excelsior Springs has entered a new phase after the City of Excelsior Springs filed a court petition asking a judge to decide whether its annexation or Mosby’s is legally valid.The filing places the dispute in the hands of the Clay County Circuit Court and marks the first formal legal challenge between the two neighboring cities over territory both now claim. Excelsior Springs is asking the court to rule that it took the first valid legal step toward annexation and to declare Mosby’s annexation invalid and void.At the center of the conflict is a largely rural corridor of unincorporated land along Cameron Road and Rhodus Road, where both cities placed annexation questions before voters in November. Each proposal passed in its respective city, creating overlapping claims to the same territory and triggering the need for a judicial decision.Under Missouri law, when two municipalities pursue annexation of ...