“I think it’s great that we’ve taken that first step, and now I hope the board sees the democratic process and gets it on the ballot,” said Tom Ward, a member of InformFirestone.

After the Firestone Board of Trustees on May 8 approved annexation of the 350-acre Union project, a group of residents known as InformFirestone started getting signatures on petitions asking for the town board to reconsider the annexation or take it to the vote of Firestone residents.

Longmont residents last August successfully petitioned the Longmont City Council to either reconsider the city’s annexation of Union or put it on the ballot. The council set a special election in January, but 4C, LifeBridge’s business organization, withdrew its annexation request before the election.

The same choice now goes to Firestone officials.

“I understand and agree with the petition process,” said Firestone Mayor Chad Auer. “However, we approved the annexation based on all of the information that we had presented by town staff and the applicant, and we stand by that decision.”

Town clerk Judy Hegwood said both petitions turned in on June 13 — InformFirestone circulated two petitions because the Union annexation involved two tracts of land — had more than the 250 signatures needed. One petition had 285 valid signatures, and the other had 274, she said.

Now, InformFirestone members have more work to do, group member Dan Sanger said.

“We didn’t want to do this with the notion of ‘Let’s put this on the ballot and then go away’ — that doesn’t really accomplish the goal,” he said. “Now we need to get some really solid answers and get that information out there.”

The group might host forums where residents can discuss the project, he said.

The town board will look at the annexation again at an upcoming meeting. The earliest it could appear on a town board agenda is July 24 meeting, but Hegwood said it has not been scheduled.

“We will get to this as soon as we possibly can,” Auer said. “We are working hard on all of the things we have to vote on, and this will be no exception.”

If the board decides not to reconsider the annexation, it will have to put the issue to a vote of residents.

Martin Dickey, chief operating officer for 4C, could not be reached for comment Monday.