This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

A proposed Utah County referendum on rezoning of a 100-acre plot on the Alpine mountainside may not make it to the ballot, organizers concede. But they say they've got momentum toward the larger goal of protecting the foothills and preserving local control.

"This movement is not about one piece of property," said Ron Madson, We Decide Utah's counsel. "This was sparked by one aberration. But this has been a seed for creating an organization much larger."

We Decide Utah formed in response to a decision by the Utah County Commission to rezone a piece of "critical environment" land on the Alpine foothills for development. The organization had less than 45 days to collect almost 20,000 petition signatures to put the issue on the next ballot.

Although organizers turned in enough petition packets by the county's Jan. 30 deadline, Madson allows that because of invalidated signatures they may not be certifed for a referendum.

"My guess is that our total certified signatures will likely fall just short of the required number," Madson said.

But even if a referendum doesn't make the ballot, Madson said the effort has been worth it.

The next step is to harness the group's energy and experience to push an initiative that would allow Alpine city to annex environmentally sensitive land only if it remains zoned as "critical environment."

"It's all about getting the control in the city where it should belong and where it would be most effective," he said.

If the Alpine City Council ever made a decision residents didn't agree with, it would be much easier to challenge as a citywide referendum would only require a few hundred signatures instead of 20,000 for a countywide petition effort.

Madson said We Decide Utah compiled a database of those who signed petitions that could be used to mobilize people in the future. He hopes organizers can spread their influence to other cities in Utah County that want to protect their mountainside.

"The public response countywide has been overwhelming," he said. "I think now that we've plowed the field, it's going to be easier next time."

Utah County Commission Chairman Larry Ellertson was one of the three commissioners who approved the rezoning of the Alpine land last December to allow residential development on part of it. Although Ellertson is fine with the referendum process as long as people are informed, he said he doesn't think rezoning should be regularly subjected to it.

"It just seemed like it was something that could be done without having this negative of an impact that some of the people are viewing that it's having," he said. "I'm not sure they would ever agree to anything there in terms of having anything built there."