PARK CITY, Utah — Park City residents upset about a controversial Kimball Junction housing development are petitioning to put it on the ballot and let the people decide whether it should move forward.
“There's a lot of people that think any growth is good, and it's not,” said former Park City Mayor Dana Williams.
Those opposed to the project claim it would make the traffic and housing problems in the area even worse.
“Our roads are failing, our schools are full, the traffic is insane, and to keep approving more and more bigger things here is not helping us," Williams added, "and it's severely impacting the quality of life here.”
Last month, the Summit County Council approved Dakota Pacific’s proposal to build a 727-unit development on a 47-acre piece of land near the Skullcandy building in Kimball Junction.
Williams claimed developers needed the council to amend its development agreement to allow go through with their plans.
“They went to the state legislature, who called the county commission and said, ‘You're going to give them several 100 units more than what our code allows.’ and so they did," she said, "and so that's been approved, and now we have the right, within so much time after that approval, to petition and put it to a public vote that it has to stick to our zoning.”
The former mayor is one of several residents trying to gather 5,000 signatures before March 2.
“I just can't imagine any more people being able to sustain, like, just being able to grocery shop outside of six o'clock in the morning," said Park City resident Melinda Bellamy. "What if we had a situation where we had to evacuate, like the California fires, where would we all go?”
Bellamy believes the project is excessive in an already crowded town.
“The open space out there was, it's like our wildland area. It's where our moose and our deer population live. Our foxes, they're going to be run out,” she said.
Dakota Pacific recently filed a petition with Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson's office to incorporate the development as a new town, which is allowed under a new state law that went into effect last spring. It would give the developers the power to make their own zoning and land use decisions.
The efforts are similar to current developments such as Kane Creek in Moab and Eden Crossing in the Ogden Valley.
“If they are successful, then this petition drive is moot. It doesn't matter,” Williams said.
Dakota Pacific failed to respond to numerous requests for comment from FOX 13 News.
