Summit County, Utah (June 23, 2025) — After extensive review, the Summit County Clerk’s Office has verified 3,214 signatures for the Ordinance 987 referendum petition and has declared the referendum insufficient. The total number of verified signatures required was 4,554. The verification process was done in accordance with state statute, and in consultation with the Lieutenant Governor’s Office and the Summit County Attorney’s Office.
The petition also did not meet the required number of signatures in three of the four Voter Participation Areas.
- Voter Participation Area 1 had 900 signatures and needed 1181
- Voter Participation Area 2 had 447 signatures and needed 1157
- Voter Participation Area 3 had 945 signatures and needed 1109
- Voter Participation Area 4 had 922 signatures and needed 1107
“We respect the efforts of the petition sponsors and all those who volunteered or signed the petition,” Summit County Clerk Eve Furse said. “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.”
As announced in February, the Clerk’s Office was unable to verify a number of packets because they had not been bound as a unit throughout the petition process in alignment with state statute. Signatures that were unreadable, duplicative, undated, and not matching, along with signers who were not registered voters, had a different address than their voter records, or lived outside of Summit County could not be counted.
In the time since Ordinance 987 was passed, Dakota Pacific Real Estate (DPRE) applied for an Administrative Development Agreement to implement modified zoning provided by Senate Bill 26. Passed during the 2025 General Session of the Utah State Legislature, Senate Bill 26 allowed DPRE to obtain a change of zoning, a change of approval process, and an additional funding source for the development, which could render Ordinance 987 irrelevant.