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2. Land Use Objective #2 of the Land Use Element of the Plan is that "Incompatible uses should be separated from one. another. Where they do abut, appropriate physical or natural buffers will be established."4 Comment: Residential and Commercial uses are not necessarily incompatible with each other. However, in the case of this plan amendment there is great potential for incompatability. In the worst case, eleven separate parcels within this node could develop as general commercial uses, and five of these parcels front only on 18th Street, a two-lane residential street. At best, the node would develop under a unified plan, but the spillover of shopping center car and truck traffic, noise and debris would still impact the residential areas adjacent, especially if the lack of barriers allowed access to 18th Street. Even if no direct access was provided, shoppers returning to the beach would be tempted'to shortcut through residential neighborhoods to avoid circling around an extra mile on the major street system, or to avoid dangerous U-turns on 17th Street. 3. The Plan's general commercial land use policy is that all areas of commercial development shall be located;to discourage strip development patterns which negatively affect safety, land use patterns and the traffic handling capacity of the transportation system.5 Comment: Changing the plan in this location to general commercial will create additional pressure to convert the existing, stable and well-maintained residentialineighborhoods between 6th Avenue and Indian River Boulevard to commercial uses. Instantly increasing the trip generation characteristics of the subject property by ten (10) times6 cannot add to the safety, stability or property values of the nearby residen- tial areas. Adding the estimated 9450 average annual daily trips from this general commercial parcel to 17th Street would utilize 300 of this arterial's Level of Service C capacity of 31,000 average annual daily trips.? This is a decidedly negative impact on the traffic handling capacity of the road system from one small area change in land use. While 17th Street might still operate within its design capacity, the spillover affect on adjacent residential streets might immediately push those streets above their design,•capacity to handle traffic. 4. The Plan's residential land use policy #3 is that!"Residential development shall be encouraged to locate in areas easily accessible to employment and service centers."8 Comment: The area of the proposed plan amendment is located in an area accessible to employment and service centers within one mile, such as Miracle Plaza, Treasure Coast Plaza, the U.S. Highway 1 commercial strip, and numerous banks and office buildings. The accessibility of this land, parcel, and its residential environs no doubt had some bearing on its Plan designation as Medium Density Residential. 57 i� f BOOK V FADE 57