Growing West Valley City

Recently the West Valley City Community and Economic Development department reported some population and building permit estimates and data.  It is interesting information and also important to understand the make-up and direction of our community.  Below are some of the notable features of that report:

As of January 1, 2014, West Valley City’s estimated population was 133,483. Our population estimate uses cumulative building and demolition permit data to calculate housing units by type, considers the amount of time before a permitted unit is occupied (“lag units”), and adjusts for vacancy rates and household size by unit type.

 

Single family housing construction remains consistent, but lower than pre-2007 levels. Multi-family permit activity has increased substantially over the last several years, as the Residences at Fairbourne Station, Sage Gate at Hayne’s Landing, Pinnacle at Highbury, and the Villages at Westridge projects all have begun construction. The following table provides a permitted unit by type breakdown:

 

 

BUILDING PERMIT ACTIVITY FOR NEW RESIDENTIAL DWELLING UNITS SINCE 2010 CENSUS          

	2010	2011	2012	2013	Total	% of Total
Single Family	26,802	89	206	201	27,298	68.1%
Multi-Family	10,146	20	245	193	10,604	26.5%
Mobile Home	2,183	0	0	0	2,183	5.5%
Total	39,131	109	451	394	40,085
Cumulative	39,131	39,240	39,691	40,085

 

 

The permitted units by type are then adjusted to account for units that are under construction at the time of this estimate, as well as for housing units that have been demolished during the year, neither of which will be occupied. Since the 2010 Census, a number of single family homes have been demolished for the Fairbourne Station project, and many for the Mountain View Corridor (45 in 2013). We also adjust for household size by housing unit type to yield a potential population assuming full occupancy of all housing units in West Valley City:

 

 

	Total Permits Issued	Estimated Construction Lag Time	Units Not Completed	Demolished Since 2010 Census	Completed Units		House- hold Size	Potential Population
Single Family	27,298	5 months	82	198		27,018	3.82	103,209
Multi-Family	10,604	6 months	180	72		10,352	2.74	28,364
Mobile Home	2,183	1 month	0	12		2,171	2.64	5,731
Total	40,085		262	282		39,541		137,305

 

The population potential including 193 in group quarters would be 137,498 if there were no vacant housing units. Vacancy rates from Equimark’s January 2013 Multi-Family Report are applied to multi-family units and duplexes, and the Census number is applied to single family homes. Vacancy rates are applied below to yield our population estimate for January 1, 2014:

 

	Potential Population	Vacancy Rate	Total	Percent of Total
Single Family	103,209	2.20%	100,938	75.6%
Multi-Family	28,364	5.30%	26,861	20.1%
Mobile Home	5,731	4.20%	5,491	4.1%
Group Quarters	193	-	193	0.1%
Total	137,498		133,483

 

1 January 2014 Population Estimate: 133,483

 

Population Trends and Projections

 

The projections for the years 2020 and 2040 are based on Wasatch Front Regional Council projections:

 

1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
95,808	100,121	103,777	105,337	107,830	110,571	112,173
2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
113,730	116,719	119,226	120,757	122,896	124,963	125,218
2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2020	2040
125,498	129,480	131,877	132,654	133,483	146,000	160,000

Jordan River 2013

There has been some exciting things happen along the Jordan River this past year.  Partnerships and reinvestment to the corridor has brought some change and improvement to the river and I am proud to play a small role in this as West Valley City's representative and Chair of the Jordan River Commission.  Below is a link to Comcast Newsmaker segment that was filmed earlier in the fall:

http://www.comcastnewsmakers.com/video/jordan-river-commission/


Also the Jordan River Commission recently honored groups and individuals instrumental in advancing the Jordan River with its annual awards gala.  The Best Practices Toolkit is being unveiled to cities along the river to help them plan and prepare for the future of the river. And finally several cleanup projects and restoration work was completed in 2013.  A published newspaper account of one the restoration projects can be found below:

http://www.westjordanjournal.com/pages/full_story/16414/Restoration-project-begins-along-Jordan-River/

Citywide Development

Below is a portion of a letter that I recently sent out highlighting some notable additions to West Valley City.

Greetings! As we all prepare for the holidays I want to send you and yours some well wishes and a sincere thank you for allowing me to serve you and the community that I love. I also wanted to make you aware of a variety of new retail establishments recently opened, under construction, or planned to open in West Valley City in the near future. Below is a highlighted list of these:

  

  

Highbury Centre (Target):

 

Kneaders (open)

Dunkin Donuts (open)

Firehouse Subs (open)

Noodles & Company (open soon)

Freebirds World Burrito (open soon)

Marshalls (under construction)

Maurices (under construction)

Cinemark Movie Theatres (under construction)

Zaxbys (planned)

 

*various other stores  are in final lease discussions including a restaurant, hospitality, clothing store, etc. 

 

Shoppes at Lake Park:

 

Ross (under construction)

Rue 21 (under construction)

Zupas (open)

 

Valley Fair Mall

 

* 5 stores in final lease discussions including a restaurant, jewelry store, mid-box variety store, etc.  However, until leases are final they do not want the actual names to be released.

 

Also, CVS Pharmacy is ready to build on 3500 South and CHOW TIME BUFFET on 5600 West is to be open soon.

Public Works/Snow Removal Trucks

In an ongoing effort to streamline City services and to keep City spending down, we are always looking for ways to be innovative and to save money.  Once such example of this is the recent refurbishment of work truck vehicles, like the ones you see plowing and salting the streets.  This will save more than $500,000 in the next two years by refurbishing rather than replacing aging heavy fleet vehicles. The two trucks pictured are identical and were both purchased a decade ago; one has been refurbished.

Xmission

Just wanted to take a moment and officially thank Xmission for being a great community partner and for donating time and space to make this website possible.