The Sierra Club report praised the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is investing some $500 million in downtown redevelopment, as well as the Utah Transit Authority's TRAX light-rail line and city officials like Mayor Rocky Anderson and the Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency.

LDS Church spokesman Dale Bills said the report "recognizes laudable efforts by many in Salt Lake City to plan and build for a healthy, livable future. The church is pleased to play a part in making our city a place everyone can enjoy."

And while most agree downtown will be a better place when the church finishes its mixed-use redevelopment plans, in Salt Lake County's existing free market most people are choosing to live far away, according to the housing building permit figures.

"Unfortunately, in some places in the county the message has come down that you can combat sprawl by having larger lots," said Brenda Case Scheer, dean of the University of Utah's College of Architecture and Planning. Larger lots actually make sprawl worse by eating up open space and creating higher infrastructure costs, Scheer said.

In some places, however, city leaders are learning that denser development can save open space, lead to cheaper infrastructure costs and therefore less expensive housing, Scheer said.

"These are slow lessons, but I'm encouraged that people in this county are learning them at all because in a lot of places they don't," she said.

Most of the new homes are being built in southwestern communities like Herriman and West Jordan, two cities that topped the list of new home permits this year. Developers in Herriman gained 788 new housing permits so far this year, many of which went to a new development called Rosecrest that built roughly 320 new homes in 2005.

Those high figures for the county's southwest are far above new permits in more urban areas like South Salt Lake, with only 15 permits so far this year.

"South Salt Lake is really low, but the difference in South Salt Lake is that it is built out. Communities like Herriman and West Jordan have a lot of room to grow," Lilly said.

Mike Bradshaw, vice president for development of Rosecrest, defends new housing in the far reaches of the county. The Rosecrest development, a 2,300-acre planned subdivision, straddles the Herriman and Bluffdale border with a projected 5,000 homes. Roughly 1,800 homes are already under way.

"In reality over the last couple years, I've been hard-pressed to build lots fast enough. Our sales have really stayed strong," Bradshaw said.

Demand for housing along the county's west bench has surged recently, Bradshaw said, as residents realized they didn't have to live in pricey east-side homes to maintain a "mountain lifestyle."