Summit County

Summit County residents seek referendum on Dakota Pacific decision

KPCW | By Connor Thomas

Published January 1, 2025 at 5:28 PM MST

Along Tech Center Drive near the Skullcandy building in Kimball Junction, where Dakota Pacific hopes to build.

A countywide vote could block the controversial Kimball Junction development county councilmembers greenlit this month.

The Summit County Council voted 4-1 Dec. 18 to allow more than 800 units of housing, a new civic plaza and an expanded transit center in western Kimball Junction.

Now, seven residents have begun a process that could overturn the decision.

“It's the citizens right to pursue a referendum, and the county is not interfering in that process. We will see it through,” Summit County Manager Shayne Scott told KPCW. “We're taking a very neutral position. The council made a decision, and that the right of the citizens is to refer that decision to the voters, if they meet certain standards.”

Development would not occur along Olympic Parkway. It would most happen around Tech Center Drive.

The signatories on the referendum petition filed with the Summit County Clerk’s Office Dec. 23 include: Ruby Diaz, Scott Greenberg, Robert Lattanzi, Jennifer Sexsmith, Shawn Stinson, Joe Urankar and Brendan Weinstein.

All either declined to comment to KPCW or could not be reached for comment.

Scott said before the application moves forward the county’s legal team must verify the council’s vote is eligible for a referendum. Then the county’s financial team will produce a report on what the referendum might cost.

If deemed eligible, Scott said referendum supporters must then gather enough signatures to qualify it for the next general election ballot. That would be in 2026, and Scott said it’s not clear how that could change the construction schedule.

In response to resident concerns about traffic, Salt Lake City-based developer Dakota Pacific Real Estate had tied its construction schedule to funding for infrastructure improvements.

And it pitched its development as a way to attract that funding from the Utah Department of Transportation.

Scott said the county and UDOT may discuss what a referendum means for the area soon.

“Several of us, of staff, may have a meeting with them next week,” he said. “We are continuing to advocate.”

Delaying the development may prompt a response from the Utah Legislature. In 2022 and 2023, it passed laws to hurry Dakota Pacific’s project along, and Summit County sued over the latter.

It put litigation on pause at legislators’ request to reach an agreement with the developer.