6/18/1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

environmentally sensitive areas of the county. This requirement has been included with the mixed use district criteria. .o Project Standards -Any mixed use district must have a minimum size and an adequate mix of uses to function as a relatively independent community. While justification to support specific standards is difficult to obtain, staff have assessed community size and market area in the county and determined that a 1000 acre size with a 1 du/acre density and a person per household factor of approximately 2.5 would be adequate to produce an independent community. With a mix of residential, retail commercial, employment commercial, and recreational uses, the interdependence can be assured. At 1000 acres, however, the viability of a mixed use project and its ability to function as a self-contained community is marginal. As the distance from the urban service area increases, the viability of communities of that size is reduced even more. For that reason it appears appropriate to establish a range of minimum district sizes, with those minimum sizes increasing with distance from the urban service area. Since a mixed use project close to the urban service area can draw upon the resources within the urban service area for higher order shopping needs, the 1000 acre size does not need to be increased substantially. For that reason, a 1,200 acre minimum size has been set for mixed use projects located within one mile of the urban service area.. With respect to projects located more than a mile from the urban service area, it is necessary for such projects to have a minimum size sufficient to accommodate shopping and employment facilities which provide enough higher order goods and sufficient diversity to limit external trips and ensure that the project will function as a self contained community. Since the need for increased size is a function of distance from the urban service area, it is appropriate to set several minimum sizes dependent on the project's distance from the urban service area. While the minimum size for projects within one mile of the urban service area has been set at 1,200 acres, establishing two other- size/distance thresholds would be appropriate. For that reason, the following thresholds are set: more than one mile and less than six miles from the urban service area -2400 acre minimum size; more than six miles from the urban service area -3600 acre minimum size. Besides establishing a mix of uses, it is necessary to establish a mixed of housing types. Particularly important is an adequate amount of affordable housing. Such housing i§ needed to accommodate lower wage employees working in the community. By providing housing for such employees in the project, the number of external trips can be kept to a minimum. In setting an affordable housing standard, staff estimated the number of low income jobs based upon the required mixed of uses in the mixed. use district. With an assumption that twenty-five percent of the jobs will be low income jobs and assuming a high number of two income families in the low income category, it is estimated that thirteen percent of the housing units will need to be affordable.. This also assumes that some of the lower paying jobs will be taken by secondary wage earners in non -low income households. For those reasons a thirteen percent minimum affordable housing requirement has been incorporated in the mixed use district criteria. While establishing a minimum amount of affordable. housing and requiring a mix of uses for each mixed use project is necessary, it is even more important that the housing and use mix reflect the needs of the specific project that is proposed. For example, a retirement -type mixed use project will have different needs than a conventional community. For that reason, it will be necessary for a project applicant to justify his proposed housing and use mix WR ,r+