FORSYTH COUNTY — The Forsyth commission voted 5-0 on Thursday to extend the county’s ban on rezoning property for apartments.

According to the county’s unified development code, the targeted zoning designation — Multi-Family Residential, or Res6 — includes town houses, low-density apartments and condominiums.

The extension was necessary, officials said, because a 30-day moratorium approved Aug. 13 was set to expire before the county has finished conducting a review of the situation.

“The board’s rationale for the moratorium was, candidly, to take some time to assess the costs associated with this sort of development, and whether or not the county is actually and correctly considering that cost and factoring it into our overall land use and development scheme,” County Attorney Ken Jarrard explained.

With the extension, the ban will be in place until up to 60 days after the county has completed a new comprehensive plan. The county has recently discussed implementing the plan, but nothing has been approved.

The moratorium does not affect previously approved rezoning applications or apartments that are zoned planned unit development district (PUD) or master planned district (MPD.)