A grass-roots organization, "Put Heber Valley First," has submitted a petition to the Heber City recorder demanding that residents be allowed to vote in November whether to allow retailers to build stores up to 150,000 square feet within city limits.

The cap had been set at 60,000 square feet in 2005.

The group gathered 1,595 signatures and submitted them by the deadline Friday afternoon at City Hall, according to Recorder Paulette Thurber.

To get the decision on the November ballot requires signatures of 35 percent of registered voters, or 1,160 certified petition signatures, Thurber said.

The petition will be forwarded to Wasatch County election officials for certification.

County Clerk Brent Titcomb said his office may be able to determine by week's end how many valid signatures are on the petitions.

The grass-roots movement is a reaction to a Feb. 15 City Council vote that sets the stage for the arrival of national big-box retailers.

Put Heber Valley First seeks to retain the square-foot limit on retailers that was set in 2005.

It appears to many residents that the council inexplicably reversed its previous decision, said Ken McConnell, who helped organize the drive.

The City Council had voted in June 2005 to limit the size of big-boxes for a variety of reasons, said City Councilwoman Shari Lazenby. Not least among them is the persistent notion that Heber Valley residents take their money outside Wasatch County to shop.

"[But] we didn't have a strong enough ordinance for such things as design criteria, roads and setbacks," she said.

After that vote, the council asked Heber City planners to create an "overlay zone" that would give the city more power in determining how large retailers could build, Lazenby said.

"So, it's not like all of a sudden we're changing."

csmart@sltrib.com