With a City Council approval in the books, foes of the Uplands development hope to take their arguments directly to Westminster voters.

Resident Karen Kalavity notified the City Council on Jan. 10 that the group Citizens for Open Space are collecting signatures to put the Uplands proposal up for a vote by referendum. Kalavity, Karl Merida and Joe Zavala are the sponsoring petition electors. 

“I want to inform people here that we have filed a referendum today with regards to the Uplands development,” Kalavity said at the city council meeting. 

According to Karen Ray, a leader of the Save the Farm group, the petition will need 8,049 valid signatures from Westminster residents. Ray, who lives in Shaw Heights, cannot sign the petition. A new group called Citizens for Open Space was formed to host the referendum, said Ray. 

City Council voted 5-2 to approve the Uplands proposal on Dec. 20 and this effort comes to counter that decision. 

Developer Oread Capital hopes the City Council will let them continue work on the 235-acre project, designed to convert the large open space surrounding the church into Uplands, a massive mixed-use development, with housing options ranging from single-family homes to apartments and townhomes as well as parks and commercial areas. The project would take several years to complete, ultimately having room for 2,350 dwelling units in a mix of housing types.

Merida said their goal is 9,000 signatures and canvassing residents has begun. 

“A lot of citizens (who) are residents of Westminster want to take copies and go talk to their neighbors, so the canvassing includes that and also people that are going door to door,” said Merida.

As well, the group provides stations for residents to sign the petition seven days a week. So far, places have been Safeway at 104th, Costco and the group hopes to include the DMV during the week. 

The group has 30 days to meet the required signatures and the deadline to submit is Feb. 9. If the required signatures are met, the vote will go to citizens on whether Uplands can move forward with their proposal.