Officials with the City of Page have halted a citizen-led effort to block a land sale for the construction of a data center.
It comes after they found errors in the paperwork submitted by residents to put the question on the ballot.
Page clerk Cindy Scott says backers of the petition didn’t print some serial numbers on each sheet and failed to attach the text of the measure correctly.
That ended the referendum signed by 400 Page residents even before their signatures could be validated.
“People are feeling kind of cheated, or like it was a petty loss,” says Page resident Beth Henshaw, who organized the petition.
She says even though it won’t move forward, the effort sent a clear message.
“I think it shows that the citizens want a say in big changes happening to the community and that they do not want the city council to decide for them and that they're not feeling like the city council is representing them,” Henshaw says.
Henshaw says she won't appeal the city clerk’s decision but she’ll continue to oppose the 500-acre project by the U.K.-based company Rooskey.
During a meeting last month, the city council floated the possibility of referring the question to the ballot independently.
But with a majority of council in support of the data center project, Henshaw says she doubts that will happen.
She and some other Page residents are concerned about the potential environmental impacts of the project.
However, councilmembers who support it say the planned 1 gigawatt data center will bring jobs and tax revenue to the city.
The council approved the land sale in October but the property will need to be rezoned before any development moves forward.
