Opponents of the hyperscale data center said they plan to take legal action after Box Elder County ruled residents will not have a chance to challenge county commissioners’ decision to approve a hyperscale data center plan at the ballot box this fall.

“Following a mandatory legal review of these applications, Box Elder County Attorney Stephen R. Hadfield has officially determined that neither referendum is legally referable to voters,” the county said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “As a result, the referendum applications have been rejected.”

Hadform said the county had received three land use referendum applications and met the state legal standards.

A main group behind the referendum push, the Box Elder Accountability Referendum (BEAR), filed with the county earlier this month, seeking to challenge two resolutions passed by county commissioners: resolution 26-11, which officially gave county consent for the project, and resolution 26-12, which created an interlocal agreement between the county and the state board that originally approved the project.

A second round of applications, the county said, was filed on May 11.

In his statement Thursday, Hadfield said he takes seriously his responsibility “to uphold the constitutional right of Box Elder County residents to refer legislative actions of the Box Elder County Commission to the voters for their approval or rejection.”

But that right, he wrote, “applies only to County Commission actions which create new laws.”

“In my opinion, both the statute and the case law interpreting it define Resolutions 26-11 and 26-12 as administrative actions of the Box Elder County Commission, not newly created laws,” Hadfield’s statement read. “Accordingly, because I am obligated to interpret and uphold the law, I am legally bound to reject the applications for referenda of these resolutions.”

In a statement from a BEAR spokesperson Thursday following the ruling, the group said they disagreed with the county attorney’s ruling — and so do their lawyers.

“State code stipulates that resolutions based on legislative action are referendable,” the statement read, “BEAR believes that both Resolutions 26-11 and 26-12 are.”

The group pointed to a Utah Supreme Court ruling that major land development actions are “legislative acts subject to a public vote when they have long-term impact and involve weighing competing public interests.”

The data center resolutions, they argued, “meet that same standard: they permanently reshape how a massive stretch of County land is governed, redirect significant tax revenue, and were openly debated by the Commission with acknowledged sweeping consequences for residents.”

Earlier this week, BEAR said they were prepared to take legal action if the referendum application was denied, and Hadfield said Thursday that his rejection would allow them to do so.

“I fully anticipate and appreciate that this will allow referendum sponsors who disagree with my opinion to appeal to the state courts for further guidance and resolution,” he added.

BEAR said in their statement Thursday that they planned to appeal the ruling to Utah’s 1st District Court.

“While we wait on that appeal, the group intends to remain active spreading awareness on the consequences of this data center and advocating to give local communities a voice on its construction,” the group said in their statement.

When members of BEAR first sought to file their application earlier this month, county clerk Marla Young said she was initially advised to turn them away, as a separate attorney had told her the issue of the data center’s approval was a state issue, not a county one.

Later, however, the attorney said it was possible the issue could be considered on a county level, and the attorney’s office has been reviewing the applications and relevant state law in the days since.

The county’s ruling is a major blow for BEAR — but opponents of the massive data center say they aren’t giving up.

“This was plan A,” referendum sponsor Brenna Williams said earlier this week. “We’ve got many plans afterwards.”

A spokesperson for BEAR did not immediately provide comment Thursday afternoon.

The data center is backed by Canadian billionaire celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary of TV’s “Shark Tank.” It is expected to generate and consume more power than the entire state currently uses.