Senate Bill 26 was written to allow the Salt Lake-based developer to build the controversial neighborhood and public amenities near the Kimball Junction library.
Since its passage, Dakota Pacific Real Estate has been preparing to submit an application, and Summit County has been preparing the legal framework to accept it.
Community Development Director Peter Barnes said the planning office received the new development agreement application late Friday, May 30.
He said it’s nearly identical to the one the county council approved in December — the one residents then attempted to overturn in a referendum.
“It's essentially the same document, but because of the language that was being used in a legislative act versus an administrative act, there's a lot of tweaking and changes to grammar and form and format,” Barnes said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” June 4. “It's very much a ‘legalese’ issue.”
The council’s 4-1 vote to approve the Kimball Junction development in December was “legislative.” That’s why it was subject to a referendum.
“What [Dakota Pacific’s new application] does to the referendum is more of a legal conversation than a planning question,” Barnes said.
A successful referendum petition drive could have put the plans approved in December up for a countywide vote this fall. But the county clerk’s office rejected dozens of signature packets.
The clerk has not formally declared the referendum petition insufficient, but as of June 4, there are not enough signatures to qualify it for the ballot.
The seven residents sponsoring the referendum have said they expect the clerk to declare the petition insufficient and will challenge that in court.
SB26 says the county has to approve a development on Dakota Pacific’s land administratively, so that action wouldn’t be subject to a vote of the people.
There would be a public hearing, and the county manager would be the final decisionmaker on the new agreement. His decision can be appealed to the county council. It’s unclear who would have standing in an appeal.
Barnes said the trickiest part of the new agreement concerns the phasing of Dakota Pacific’s development. In the December version, the process was tied to the Utah Department of Transportation’s timeline for Kimball Junction traffic improvements.
“Dakota Pacific and our transportation planners have been in contact with UDOT, trying to work out how we adjust some of those key triggers for what permits get issued when,” Barnes said. “So that's going to be a minor point of discussion that I imagine we're going to need some clarification on.”
The agreement the council approved in December, which Dakota Pacific never signed, allowed a 725-unit neighborhood and public-private partnership to develop and redevelop the land around Skullcandy’s headquarters.
The redevelopment included new civic buildings, a larger transit center and a mixed-use plaza. Two hundred forty units in the neighborhood would be for people making less than 80% of the county’s median income, and 100 units would be for people making 100% to 120%. There's additional county-owned affordable housing in the public-private partnership area.
Prior to SB26, Dakota Pacific began the process to incorporate a self-governing town with its land in January. That remains an option for development if the path described in SB26 fails.
“I don't understand why anyone would be interested in following up on the municipality idea,” Barnes said, assuming the administrative development agreement goes through. “It's a right that they have — I just don't think anyone is interested in that.”
Jordan Schwanke, the state official who oversees incorporations in Utah, recently told The Salt Lake Tribune the kind of incorporation Dakota Pacific filed for can take three to six years.
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