A $30 land sale to a land developmer sparked public outcry in Arvada earlier this year.

Now a group of residents are proposing a city charter amendment that would require voter approval of any similar deals.

Arvada for All the People, a citizens group, has launched the petition effort, to get the proposed city charter amendment on a special election ballot. The group's organizers say the land deal planned between Arvada Urban Renewal Authority and developer Trammell Crow for an 8.25-acre mixed-use development at Wadsworth Boulevard and 56th Avenue, has served as a prime example of why additional controls on the city's government is needed.

The proposal, titled Protect Arvada Taxpayers (PAT), would make voter approval required for sales and/or property tax subsidies/incentives of over $2.5 million for private businesses and on city-owned land sales appraised over $1 million to private businesses.The charter amendment would also make the elected city council the board of commissioners for the Arvada Urban Renewal Authority.

In the past two years citizen-initiated proposals reforming Urban Renewal Authorities have been approved by voters in Wheat Ridge and Littleton. The Arvada group says it hopes to follow in the same footsteps.

Petition circulators have 90 days to collect 12,996 signatures — 15 percent of the city's registered voters on the day that they file the notice of intent. Signature collection started Saturday, July 29 and will end Oct. 26. Residents can visit www.arvadaforallthepeople.com to find out where petition circulators will be throughout this time. A petition signing event will be held 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 5 at Wadsworth Bypass and 56th Avenue.

If the proper number of votes are collected and verified, the petition will go to city council and a special election will be set, some time past the November ballot.