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ANALYSIS As adopted, the County's mixed use policy and implementing regulations serve the o jective of having a diverse mix of land uses, development patterns, housing densities, and housing types. To achieve that objective, the County requires that mixed use projects be developed as PD (planned developments) to provide necessary project design control and ensure that specific design criteria are adequately addressed up -front with initial project approval. Several of those specific desi n criteria are structured to ensure that the commercial component of mixed use PD projects is integrated into the residential component of the project and is located and designed in a manner that is compatible with residential areas within and adjacent to the mixed use PD. Consequently, commercial uses within mixed use PDs are limited to lodging, institutional, personal services, retail (excluding gas stations but including fuel sales), and restaurants, because those types of commercial u es can be integrated into a residential area and be designed for compatibility with residential uses Currently, the mixed use criteria allow banks and pharmacies with drive -up facilities and allow restaurants, but they do not allow restaurants with drive -up or drive-through facilities. The reason that banks and pharmacy drive -up facilities are allowed is because such facilities are typically designed in a manner that does not dominate or wrap around the bank or pharmacy building and cut off convenient pedestrian traffic to the building. Conversely, drive -up and drive-throug facilities for restaurants, particularly fast-food restaurants such as McDonalds, are now typically designed with drive-through facilities and queuing lanes that wrap around three sides of the restaurant building and impede convenient pedestrian traffic to the building from off-site and even from on-site parking areas. In addition, idling cars and speaker systems used with drive-through order boards can create adverse noise impacts on adjacent residential uses, especially when facilities are used at night. Because motorist -dominant fast-food restaurant designs do not integrate well with pedestrian traffic from adjacent residential areas, and because idling cars and order board outdoor speakers stems can create noise nuisances for nearby residences, restaurant drive-up/drive-through facilities were not considered appropriate for mixed use projects at the time the existing criteria were dev loped. Although some fast-food restaurant drive-up/drive-through facilities conflict with c nvenient pedestrian traffic, some restaurant drive-through designs do not. For example, the Sonny's BBQ restaurant at 5001 201h Street is a restaurant with a drive-through facility that does not impede pedestrian access to the building and does not dominate the sides of the restaurant building visible from the adjacent public street (SR60). Developed as a commercial PD project with a drive-through facility on two sides of the restaurant, Sonny's has its order board and vehicle queue located far from nearby residential areas, provides convenient pedestrian access to the building, and effectively screens the drive-through facility from the SR60 vantage point. Because drive-through fa ilities for restaurants can be carefully located and designed in a manner that provides for adequate pedestrian access and visual screening from adjacent public roads, staff's position is that it is appropriate to allow such facilities for restaurants in mixed use PDs, subject to design and locational criteria. • Proposed Criteria for Restaurant Drive-through Facilities in Mixed Use As structured, the proposed ordinance allows restaurants with drive-through and drive -up facilities in mixed use PDs subject to six criteria. One proposed criterion prohibits drive-through facilities from being located adjacent to off-site residential uses to ensure that idling cars and order board F:ACommunity Deve1opment\CurDevA13CC\2013 BCC\915drive-thrusandups.doc 2 136