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Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element <br />Park, Treasure Shores Park, Round Island Park, and Sebastian Inlet State Park are recreation <br />areas that attract many visitors. On the mainland, the North County Library in Sebastian and the <br />Main Library in Vero Beach are trip attractors. The Municipal Marina, located on the barrier <br />island north of SR 60, actually produces many trips, since out-of-town boaters dock there and <br />use the transportation system for shopping and other purposes. <br />While employment is somewhat dispersed throughout the county, there are areas with <br />concentrations of employment. The area near downtown Vero Beach, for example, has many <br />city and county government offices, while Piper Aircraft near the Vero Beach Airport has a large <br />number of employees. Near the Sebastian River Medical Center and the Indian River Memorial <br />Hospital, there are a large number of employees resulting from the agglomeration of medical <br />services proximate to those hospitals. <br />Overall, the number of jobs relative to the number of houses in an area greatly influences the <br />number and length of automobile trips within that area. An analysis of 2005 jobs -to -household <br />data for the three major subareas of the county indicates that the North County jobs -to -housing <br />ratio was 0.7714 jobs per household; the Central County ratio was 1.3063 jobs per household; <br />and the South County ratio was 0.6974 jobs per household. <br />In 2006, the population density in the county's urbanized area was 2.36 persons/acre, while the <br />density of unincorporated Indian River County within the urban service area was 0.52 persons/ <br />acre. Several subareas of the urbanized area, however, had higher population densities. For <br />example, the City of Vero Beach had a population density of 2.19 persons / acre in 2006. Based <br />on estimates contained in the Indian River County Community Profile report adopted in <br />December of 2003, the Gifford community had a population density of 2.63 persons/acre. Other <br />communities with high population densities included several retirement communities (Orange <br />Heights: 6.44 persons/acre; Village Green/Lake of the Woods/Indian River Estates: 4.44 <br />persons/acre) and older communities within Vero Beach (North Beach, McAnsh Park). <br />To determine if adequate Commercial and Industrial acreage exists in the county to improve the <br />future jobs/housing balance, the MPO performed a preliminary analysis of the adopted future <br />land use plan map. While most of the county appears to have sufficient quantities of <br />undeveloped commercial and industrial land to achieve a desirable balance, there is evidence that <br />the south county area may lack commercial and industrial land. <br />In the recent past, much of the residential development in the county occurred as self-contained <br />subdivisions that lack local neighborhood connectivity. This preference among homebuyers for <br />privacy and security continues to dominate new residential development patterns, with most of <br />the growth that has occurred since 2000 having taken place in small and medium-sized <br />communities with limited roadway and pedestrian access and little intra- or inter- neighborhood <br />connectivity. <br />Through its land development regulations, the county requires developers to incorporate <br />connectivity strategies into new development projects. These strategies include requiring internal <br />street connections between adjacent subdivisions; requiring multiple entranceways to adjacent <br />thoroughfare roadways; requiring marginal access roadways along arterials; and requiring <br />Community Development Department Indian River County 43 <br />