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Five: That's the number of temples Latter-day Saints will be able to use in Salt Lake County.

In opening The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' semiannual General Conference on Saturday, President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the church will be building two new temples in the southwest corner of the Salt Lake Valley.

"You may ask why we favor Utah so generously," Hinckley said in the morning session. "It is because the degree of activity [among Utah Mormons] requires it."

Hinckley didn't say where one of the new temples will be built, although a church statement acknowledged that property has already been bought.

The other temple will be erected in the massive Daybreak development on 114th South. LDS officials didn't give a specific location within the 4,100-acre development but South Jordan officials say it will be built on a vacant "knoll" near the Bangerter Highway.

"It's an elevated location that will be an excellent site for a temple," South Jordan Mayor Kent Money said. He didn't have an exact address but the area is the eastern edge of the development, at about 11200 South.

The LDS Church has two working temples in the valley now - the downtown Salt Lake Temple and Jordan River Temple in South Jordan. A year ago Hinckley announced another temple would be built in Draper but the church has not yet started construction on the 12-acre site.

With that temple still in the conceptual stages, Hinckley's announcement came as bit of a surprise Saturday. Indeed, his prepared remarks didn't include talk of the two temples.

In all the church has 122 temples around the globe, where 32 million proxy ordinances were performed last year, Hinckley said. The church is also working on building temples in Sacramento, Calif.; Helsinki, Finland; Panama City, Panama; Curitiba, Brazil; and two in Idaho.

"At the moment, some of our temples are crowded to capacity and beyond," Hinckley said. "The needs and desires of our faithful Saints must be met."

Latter-day Saints consider temples the most sacred places on earth where they perform ordinances that "bind families together forever" and "teach the purpose of life and explain God's plan of salvation," according to the church.

Money didn't expect his community to be picked because it already is home to the Jordan River Temple.

"I was somewhat surprised that they would have two temples in South Jordan," said Money, a member of the church.

A population boom in the valley's southwest may have been the catalyst.

Daybreak, a development by Kennecott Land, will eventually have more than 13,000 homes and more than 9 million square feet of retail and office space. Construction was begun in 2004.

Daybreak resident Angela Merrill, who performs work monthly at the Jordan River Temple, said she was excited about the news. "How perfect," she said. "We live in a walkable community and we have a temple we can walk to, too."

The entire area is teeming with development. Farmland in West Jordan, South Jordan, Riverton and Herriman is quickly being gobbled up to make way for new neighborhoods.

And not far from the South Jordan temple site is The Boyer Co.'s 116-acre retail development. The development is on the east side of Bangerter Highway at 11400 South and will bring big-box and mid-box retailers along with a 20-screen movie theater and main street with smaller retailers and restaurateurs.

Daybreak officials say houses of worship are "an important part of building" in their development plans.

"We are pleased that the LDS Church has chosen our community as a temple site," said Peter McMahon, president of Kennecott Land. "We want Daybreak to be the type of community where a diversity of religious people will choose to house their sacred buildings."