The county stopped counting signatures in March but had until June 23 to formally determine if there were enough.
The Summit County Clerk’s Office verified 3,214 signatures — which falls short of the 4,554 needed. It officially declared the petition “insufficient” hours before the deadline. That means it won’t appear on the county’s ballot this November, unless a court rules differently.
The seven residents who sponsored a referendum on Dakota Pacific Real Estate’s development, initially approved in December, said they’d turned in more than 6,000.
“We will pursue legal remedy to reinstate the rejected packets,” they said on their website in March. The sponsors did not immediately respond to a request for comment and had not filed in 3rd District Court as of June 23.
Clerk Eve Furse previously told KPCW 30 of the 77 signature packets her office received over the past month "did not meet the petition requirements in Utah's Election Code." The sponsors have said she's the one who didn't follow the code.
A Summit County press release June 23 stated the signature verification process was done in consultation with the Utah Lt. Governor’s office and Summit County Attorney’s Office.
“We respect the efforts of the petition sponsors and all those who volunteered or signed the petition,” Furse said in a statement. “Extensive efforts were made by the Clerk’s Office to validate and count every packet and signature possible, which is why our office took the full length of time allowed to verify signatures. My priority as Clerk is to protect and uphold the process by which Summit County voters express their political will.”
Meanwhile, the developer has submitted a new and separate application to build at Kimball Junction under a new state law written to greenlight its plans.
Dakota Pacific applied for a new development agreement May 30. It can’t be challenged through a referendum because the new law gives the approval power to county staff, not to the county council. Click here for a copy of the new proposed agreement.
If the new route to development fails, the company could still incorporate its own town. But that might take three to six years, the Utah Lt. Governor’s office told The Salt Lake Tribune last month.
Dakota Pacific’s proposal is a 725-unit neighborhood and public-private partnership with the county to develop and redevelop the land around Skullcandy’s headquarters.
The redevelopment included new civic buildings, a larger transit center, more affordable housing and a mixed-use plaza. Summit County and Dakota Pacific split the cost of the partnership, but the company’s contribution is capped at $3.7 million.
Residents opposed to the project have expressed concerns about adding people to an already busy area of the county, and what that means for traffic.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW. For a full list, click here.
