Earlier this year, Summit County Clerk Eve Furse deemed a citizen referendum on Dakota Pacific Real Estate's controversial Kimball Junction development insufficient based on how its signature packets were submitted.
Furse says individual signature pages were separated from the packets, citing pictures of signature gathering events. She says that’s not allowed.
“Utah Code requires a referendum packet to be ‘bound together as a unit,’” her attorneys wrote Aug. 4. “It supports a black/white analysis. Binding turns a stack of papers into a referendum packet. Removing the binding turns a referendum into a stack of papers.”
Supporters of the referendum have challenged Furse in 3rd District Court. They say Furse has misinterpreted state law and that Judge Richard Mrazik should rule that the signatures she rejected are valid.
That would put the Dakota Pacific development to a public vote of county residents on Nov. 4.
Supporters have questioned the quality of Furse’s evidence and say Utah law doesn’t discriminate between or mandate a particular type of binding. They argue a prior Utah Supreme Court ruling backs that up.
In response, Furse’s attorneys say the petitioners’ arguments in court have raised more factual questions than they answered.
Mrazik could decide the issue during a hearing Aug. 19.
The petitioners argue that preserving the referendum preserves the ability to file a second legal challenge against the new state law county officials says makes the referendum moot: Senate Bill 26. Furse’s attorneys say that’s not for Mrazik to decide.
“Any hypothetical hope that petitioners might later prevail in a challenge to SB 26 is not enough for this case,” the court papers state. They claim the new law supersedes the county's ability to say what happens on that land.
The new law was passed in March after the Summit County Council approved the development next to Skullcandy’s headquarters in Kimball Junction in December and residents filed for a referendum on that decision.
The law’s sponsor said it is intended to greenlight the project, and County Manager Shayne Scott complied, approving the project again July 28.
Residents who want a countywide vote on the project have expressed frustration with Furse in recent months, with some implying she rejected signatures because she’s pro-development or on Dakota Pacific’s side.
At a July interim legislative session hearing, Layton Republican Rep. Trevor Lee said, of the signature rejection, “it’s almost like it’s malicious.”
Through her attorneys, Furse says that’s shooting the messenger. Her position is that petition signatures were invalidated based on state referendum law.
Utah legislators may reform the law next year. As Salt Lake Democratic Sen. Karen Kwan said in July, “we don’t want to have laws that seem like gotchas.”
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW. For a full list, click here.
