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SAF 1 1987 .s 600K 6 : PAGE194 On July 23, 1987, the Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-0 to recommend denial of this request. The reason for denial was to prevent the unofficial creation of commercial nodes at intersections and to prevent the detrimental impact on surrounding areas which could be caused by permitting more commercial activity at intersections than permitted under the current code. Since the July 23, 1987, meeting, the applicant has withdrawn the portion of his original request which would have permitted a neighborhood commercial node to be enlarged from the current maximum size of 3 acres to a 4 acre maximum size. ALTERNATIVES & ANALYSIS In this section an examination of the reasonableness and impacts of this request will be considered in relation to the purpose and intent of the CN ordinance, the proposed land use patterns, and the characteristics of potential locations. Purpose and Intent of the CN District The purpose and intent of the CN district is to implement the comprehensive plan policies for managing neighborhood and tourist/commercial nodes, and to provide areas for the development of highly restricted commercial activities to serve primarily the residents of the immediate area. This district is further intended to limit the intensity of commercial activities in order to preserve and ensure compatibility with the residential nature of a residential area. In examining this request, several inconsistencies can be. seen between the purpose and intent and the proposed amendments. The intent is to provide an area for commercial activities to serve a specific residential area. This type of service was intended to include small scale service and retail activities which will not draw a large number of customers from areas other than those which the node was intended to service. If existing neighborhood nodes at the same intersection were excluded from the minimum distance separation criteria, a substantial amount of additional commercial property could be developed at intersections. Instead of one three acre node, an intersection could accomodate four neighborhood nodes, each having up to three acres. The added commercial development would attract more customers from areas other than the immediate area, resulting in increased traffic and often producing a detrimental effect on adjacent residential areas. Increased traffic could also impact the streets which provide direct and indirect access to the neighborhood node, causing additional impacts to areas not immediately adjacent to the node. Impact on Land Use and Traffic Decreasing the minimum separation between a neighborhood node and other commercial areas will also increase the potential for strip commercialization. Strip commercial development is detrimental to all road classifications, i.e., arterials, primary and secondary collectors, etc., as it decreases the ability of the roadway to properly and freely move traffic because of excessive turning movements. Even though marginal access roads are required along arterials and primary collectors, access roads are not required on secondary collectors which are generally situated in close proximity to residential areas. Even if a marginal access road is utilized, it will serve little purpose if the site has a small amount of frontage on a roadway requiring it. In this case the same number of curb cuts could still result. By permitting the exemption of other neighborhood nodes from the minimum distance separation requirements, it is conceivable that two to four, three acre neighborhood commercial nodes could be 12 _ M M