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The West Valley City Council on Tuesday evening unanimously adopted a six-month moratorium on rezoning for new housing developments.

The suspension will not impact rezoning applications already submitted to City Hall.

The moratorium comes as Utah's second largest city has only 300 to 500 acres of open land remaining. The city of 130,000 encompasses some 22,400 acres or 35 square miles.

It's a good time to pause and analyze what's best for the remainder of the city's development, said Nicole Cottle, in a recent interview.

"This will facilitate a collaborative approach to rezoning the last few undeveloped parcels in our city," she said.

During the moratorium, city officials will make an inventory of undeveloped land. The suspension also will give planners time to complete the West Valley City General Plan update that could be adopted as early as February, said Steve Pastorik, assistant economic development director.

According to city records, there are some 43,000 total housing units in West Valley City. About 70 percent are owner-occupied. Rentals make up 24 percent. Vacancies are about 6 percent.

Christopher Smart