The time for the Fair Zoning Initiative to get on its feet has come and gone.

Monday was the deadline for the initiative -- which sought to strip Provo City zoning of all references to marital, relationship or educational status -- on the November ballot.

The deadline passed with the signature collectors coming up somewhere around 2,000 signatures short.

The petition drive came from a local group organized under the name provocitizens.net, led by politically active Provo resident Roger Brown.

Brown said current zoning laws are discriminatory to singles -- both old and young.

In order for their initiative to make it on the ballot, the drive needed 3,100 signatures, which represents about 10 percent of Provo residents who voted in the 2004 gubernatorial elections.

Though they missed the mark by more than 60 percent of what they needed, Brown says they will keep working to get the petition ready for the city ballot in November of 2009. According to Brown, the signatures that they have collected so far will still be eligible for submission in 2009.

The stalled amendment seeks to alter the city code to read, "No zoning ordinance may discriminate on the basis of marital status, family status, real property ownership, or educational status."

"Excluding others from a neighborhood or zone because of a difference in their life circumstances is going too far," wrote Brown on his Web site. "Diversity of basically good people and the principle of inclusion are good for a community."

The ballot language, which Brown defends as being fair, has, however, drawn criticism.

Municipal Councilman Steve Turley said in a statement sent Thursday that "the initiative would take away important safeguards that cities have to protect not only property owners but also their neighbors' property rights." Turley further added, "Zoning is a delicate balance between protecting one person's property rights and protecting the best interest of the community. The 'Fair Zoning Initiative' would swing Provo to an extreme that is unacceptable."

Brown said the initiative isn't out of line because it is the first step in fixing zoning problems.

Provocitizens.net has taken the position that there should be limits on the number of people who live in an area.

"There are several different ideas" about how to regulate neighborhoods, he said. Brown offered one suggestion saying that the city could control neighborhoods by restricting the number of cars a property can have. Brown said there are a number of ideas that all need to be thought out and debated.

The problem, however, according to Brown is that, "It's kind of like treating singles as second-class citizens," he said.

Thane Andersen, who worked with Brown on the initiative, said they have not given up hope and they will continue working on this initiative.

Brown said their main downfalls were starting too close to the deadline to get out and collecting the required number of signatures, and that they didn't have enough funds.

Brown and Andersen didn't start until only a few weeks before the deadline. Further, Brown estimated the cost of sending out fliers to the 41,000 registered Provo voters at more than $10,000 -- money they don't have.

Still, Brown argues that the people need a chance to decide for themselves how zoning will be determined.

Brown would often tell residents that even if they were not sure how they felt about the petition, they should sign it so that the voters could decide what they want.

"We're telling people don't give up hope," Brown said.

Nathan Johnson can be reached at 344-2543 or at njohnson@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D1.