It’s been assumed that the proposed 80,000-seat football stadium being added to the $2.2 billion redevelopment plan on the site of the old Hollywood Park Race Track in Inglewood needed to be put up to a vote by local residents.

The proposed stadium is being financed by St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke and real estate investment firm Stockbridge Capital Group, and it’s presumed it will be the new home of the Rams.

The Rams recently moved to a one-year lease with the Edward Jones Dome, and while St. Louis leaders are scrambling to approve a new stadium proposal to keep the franchise in Missouri, it’s obvious Kroenke has his eye on Southern California.

While Kroenke’s Inglewood project might still need to be put to vote, Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts believes the 22,216 signatures project developers recently gathered to put the stadium rezoning on the ballet – an initiative petition is one way to add the stadium to an existing development plan – is sufficient support to bypass a mid-year vote and push the plan to the city council.

Mayor Butts told the St. Louis Post Dispatch the 22,216 signatures from registered voters – more than double what is needed to put a measure on the ballet – shows ample support for a city with 55,000 registered voters. The signatures still need to be validated by the Los Angeles County registrar, a process that should conclude within the next two weeks.

Once validation is completed, Butts told the Post-Dispatch Inglewood City attorneys believe it can go directly to the City Council.

If that is the case, the project could get started a whole lot earlier than many assumed.