Petition-drive chairman Roger Brown said Provo's current code discriminates based on family status, marital status and whether residents are homeowners. Through a grass-roots effort, he sought to change the city's guidelines to a more singles-friendly set of rules.

"The good news is, we don't have to start over.," Brown said. "We'll keep going until we have the signatures we need and try to get it on the 2009 ballot."

But Brown and his backers needed 3,100 signatures to force a vote on the issue. They've collected approximately 500.

Gary McGinn, Provo's community development director, said petition drives are hard work.

"And I think there's a lot of people that would disagree with the position of the petition," McGinn added. "That may be a contributing factor to why they didn't get the signatures they needed."

Petition supporters said the city's rules limit the unmarried or unrelated - and are unequal and unfair. They complained that city rules limited singles to two roommates - even if they have four or five bedrooms with adequate off-street parking. Meanwhile, there is no limit on the number of relatives who can live together.

But McGinn said the zoning ordinances are lawful and noted that the city's definition of families has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. He said a family doesn't have to be a traditional mother, father and children; rather, it can include two or three singles (depending on the area they live in) and their children.

"Our ordinance clearly states that living together can constitute a family," McGinn said.

sgehrke@sltrib.com