Referendum & Election info

In response to the council action, a citizens group opposed to the construction of the airport/industrial complex quickly formed a Political Action Committee – Keep Chino Rural – and successfully collected donations to support a referendum petition that would require a public vote on the rezoning.

Keep Chino Rural retained a lawyer and registered a referendum petition to force a public vote. We trained 86 citizens to collect signatures. On March 24 we submitted 1245 signatures to the Chino Valley town clerk. A successful petition drive needed only 384 valid signatures.

On April 21, the Chino town clerk completed a review of the signatures finding 1225 to be valid and then submitted a random sample of 62 signatures to the Yavapai County Recorder for verification. The Recorder disqualified six signers and validated 56 – a 90% validity rate. This indicates that over 1100 valid signatures were submitted.

The Town Council has determined that the referendum will appear on the November general election ballot as Proposition 410.  So far, there are no legal challenges. Chino Valley residents eligible to vote in Town elections will determine if the rezoning for the airport/industrial park should be overturned. If Chino Valley voters overturn the rezoning, the conditional use permit becomes invalid and the airport/industrial park project will not allowed.

Keep Chino Rural is prepared to convince voters that the airport/industrial park is incompatible with the rural character of our town. This campaign will be conducted in a civil and respectful manner and will focus on the facts and consequences of the project.