Petition drive successful
Publish Date: 6/14/2008
Group still taking signatures to get Union on Nov. ballot
By Kacia Munshaw
Longmont Times-Call
FIRESTONE — InformFirestone members on Friday gave the town clerk petitions asking officials to put the annexation of the Union property on the ballot.
But the group is still trying to get more signatures, which they’ll turn in Monday.
“We will still be collecting signatures this weekend,” InformFirestone member Dan Sanger said Friday. “We want to give everyone the chance to have their voices heard.”
The group and town staff disagreed on the petition’s deadline.
The town said it was due Friday, and the group said it should be due Monday.
Sam Light, town attorney, cautioned the group to turn the petition in both days, until the dispute can be resolved.
When residents choose to petition a decision made by the town board, they have 30 days from when the ordinance is published in the newspaper to get an application approved and collect signatures from 5 percent of registered voters.
The board’s decision to annex the Union project was published May 15, so the official due date for the petition is Sunday.
“As we read it, we should have until Monday to turn it in,” Sanger said. “We have been advised by the town attorney to turn it in both days, so that’s what we are doing.”
Since June 4, InformFirestone members have been walking door to door and setting up posts outside of King Soopers and the Firestone Post Office to collect the needed 250 signatures.
Sanger said the response has been overwhelming.
“It’s a scary thing because you don’t know how people are going to react to you, but it has been a very positive experience,” he said.
The Firestone town clerk, Judy Hegwood, said she expects to determine if the petition is valid by the middle of next week.
“I have to verify all of the signatures, so it will take some time,” she said Friday.
If the group is successful, the board will be asked to reconsider its decision to annex the Union development into town limits or put the issue on the ballot.
This is the second time a group of residents have asked that the development go to a vote.
Longmont residents petitioned against the city’s annexation of Union last August and it was scheduled to go to a special vote in January.
4C, LifeBridge Christian Church’s business organization, pulled its application to annex into Longmont before the election date.
Kacia Munshaw can be reached at 303-684-5334 or kmunshaw@times-call.com.
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