Dakota Pacific Real Estate has emailed Summit County voters through a group called “Wasatch Back Future” urging them not to sign a referendum petition related to their Kimball Junction development.
The referendum seeks to block the Summit County Council’s controversial December 2024 approval of a 725-unit neighborhood near Skullcandy. The development deal also includes a public-private partnership to build housing and community amenities where the Kimball Junction library sits.
Seven Summit County residents — Ruby Diaz, Scott Greenberg, Robert Lattanzi, Jennifer Sexsmith, Shawn Stinson, Joe Urankar and Brendan Weinstein — are sponsoring the referendum. It calls for a countywide vote on the county’s development agreement with Dakota Pacific.
Wasatch Back Future’s website initially didn’t say Dakota Pacific set up the group. Now it does, and CEO Marc Stanworth said “the intent was never to disassociate, which is why we intentionally used DPRE officials as the initiating parties for the required disclosures rather than unrelated supporters.”
The group has registered with the state government as a political issues committee (PIC), which allows them to raise funds to fight the referendum, including dissuading voters from signing the petition.
“The reason we are actively working to counter the petition is rather simple: we firmly believe that the agreement reached with the council after thousands of collective hours of careful deliberation is the best possible outcome for the community, and residents deserve having access to the facts when making a decision,” Stanworth told KPCW in a statement.
Councilmembers cited state legislative pressure when they approved the development in December.
The company’s opposition to the referendum comes after it filed to incorporate the residential portion as a town Jan. 8, two weeks after residents petitioned for a referendum.
Dakota Pacific is allowed to make the area a town because of a law Utah passed in 2024. The law allows developers to decide their own zoning with a self-appointed board.
The Utah Lt. Governor’s office is assessing whether Dakota Pacific’s town is feasible: whether it can raise enough taxes to balance a budget.
If it’s deemed feasible and unless that law is changed or struck down, residents’ referendum can’t stop the 725-unit neighborhood. As of Feb. 3, KPCW is unaware of any court cases challenging the law.
What the referendum could affect is the other half of the development agreement, namely, the public-private partnership.
Under the agreement's severability clause, even if part of the development plans fall through, the rest can still be built.
Dakota Pacific’s proposed incorporation does not include the land where the partnership would happen: Skullcandy’s parcel and the Sheldon Richins Building area.
That’s where the county and developer hope to build a thousand-spot parking garage with a mixed-use plaza, 165 affordable housing units and pedestrian bridge across state Route 224 on top.
The Kimball Junction Transit Center would expand and a new library would go next to Skullcandy.
Summit County would split the cost of most of the amenities with Dakota Pacific. High Valley Transit pays for the transit center.
Those amenities are on the chopping block even if Dakota Pacific can incorporate a town. The other half of the development agreement may still be enforceable, so voters could reject it.
But according to Summit County Manager Shayne Scott, the agreement is not yet in effect.
Dakota Pacific hasn’t signed it, which the referendum sponsors say is evidence “they don’t want to commit to some of the ‘benefits’ they promised.”
Whether Dakota Pacific signs the agreement may not be relevant, Stanworth told KPCW, if the sponsors overturn the council’s side of the agreement.
If executed, the agreement requires the county and developer to dismiss a pending lawsuit in 3rd District Court and pay their own legal fees. Summit County had sued to block a 2023 law that might have given Dakota Pacific development rights before the council voted. Both would pay their own legal fees.
The development agreement also allows Dakota Pacific to terminate it anyway if “the referendum or challenge is submitted to a vote of the people.”
Referendum sponsors need 4,554 signatures before March 3 for the issue to appear on the Nov. 4, 2025 ballot.
The company has repeatedly told KPCW it’s committed to delivering on the development and partnership as laid out in the agreement the council approved in December.
