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Summit County’s Dakota Pacific referendum can go on ballot, county attorney says

Residents gather at the Sheldon Richins Building on Dec. 18, 2024, before the Summit County Council votes 4-1 to approve Dakota Pacific Real Estate's development proposal for the area.
Parker Malatesta
/
KPCW
Residents gather at the Sheldon Richins Building on Dec. 18, 2024, before the Summit County Council votes 4-1 to approve Dakota Pacific Real Estate's development proposal for the area.

But first, referendum sponsors will need to gather thousands of signatures.

The effort to overturn a controversial Kimball Junction development can legally proceed, Deputy County Attorney Helen Strachan said in a letter to referendum sponsors Jan. 13 after reviewing state land use law.

In December, the Summit County Council voted 4-1 to allow Dakota Pacific Real Estate to build more than 800 units of housing and collaborate with the county on an expanded transit center, park-and-ride lot, civic plaza and pedestrian bridge in western Kimball Junction.

“I am positive that there will be a legislative fix to this, and I don't know what that would look like,” Councilmember Roger Armstrong said before the Dec. 18 vote. “I don't like bullies, and I think every now and then you have to hit a bully in the face. Now, he may kick your butt and still take your lunch money, but maybe you walk away feeling better about yourself.”

The top concern expressed by residents at public hearings was traffic. They say gridlock should be addressed before building any additional housing in Kimball Junction, not during or after construction.

Now, Summit County Manager Shayne Scott said the sponsors will need to gather nearly 5,000 signatures to put the development on the next general election ballot.

Summit County residents look on and line up for public comment during the final public hearing on Dakota Pacific Real Estate's controversial Kimball Junction development proposal Nov. 7, 2024.
Connor Thomas
/
KPCW
Summit County residents look on and line up for public comment during the final public hearing on Dakota Pacific Real Estate's controversial Kimball Junction development proposal Nov. 7, 2024.

“They have to get 16% of the registered voters to sign the petition to refer the item,” Scott said. There are about 30,000 voters in the county.

That’s also 16% from different regions of the county. The county is broken into four voting regions, and Utah law says signatures must account for 16% of voters in three of the four regions.

The four voter regions don’t coincide exactly with Park City, the Snyderville Basin, North Summit and South Summit. All contain parts of the Snyderville Basin.

Even if the referendum doesn’t succeed, it affects the construction schedule because the vote would happen, Scott said, in November 2026.

FULL INTERVIEW: Summit County Manager Shayne Scott

The next step required by state law is for the county’s financial department to report what the referendum may cost the county and taxpayers.

Scott said the report will include some of the “community benefits” Dakota Pacific promised Summit County it would pay for, some $4 million he claims will be lost if the referendum succeeds.

The developer had also said its project would move Kimball Junction gridlock to the top of the Utah Department of Transportation's priorities.

“How do we quantify the fix to [state Route] 224 not happening? How do we do that?” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour.” “Now, I can't say that it's not going to happen just because the referendum passes, but it's in jeopardy. And that's something we're very concerned about from a staff level.”

It’s not clear how the state may react to the referendum legislatively. The Utah Legislature previously passed laws to hurry along the Kimball Junction development in 2022 and 2023.

Summit County staff say there are as many as 30 land use and development bills in the works for the 2025 General Session, which begins Jan. 21. According to Scott, the bills would shift land use authority up to the state, away from counties and cities.

Corrected: February 6, 2025 at 10:46 AM MST
This story initially said Councilmember Roger Armstrong's dissenting vote allowed the referendum. That would have only been true were the decision a "municipal" one — within a city. The decision was made at the county level, and would have been referrable were it unanimous.
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