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BOOK 100 FACE 90 d The goals, objectives and policies are the most important parts of the Comprehensive Plan. Policies are statements in the plan which identify the action which the county will take in order to direct the community's development. As courses of action committed to by the county, policies provide the basis for all county land development related decisions --including plan amendment decisions. While all Comprehensive Plan policies are important, some have more applicability than others in reviewing plan amendment requests. Of particular applicability are the following policies: - Future Land Use Element Policy 13.3 The most important policy to consider in evaluating a plan amendment request for consistency with the county's Comprehensive Plan is Future Land Use Element Policy 13.3. This policy requires that one of three criteria be met in order to approve a land use amendment request. These criteria are: • a mistake in the approved plan; • an oversight in the approved plan; or • a substantial change in circumstances affecting the subject property. Staff's position is that this land use amendment request meets Policy 13.3's third criterion, a substantial change in circumstances affecting the subject property. That change relates to the relocation of Lundberg Road, which is the only paved access to the Indian River County campus of Indian River Community College (IRCC). Presently, Lundberg Road is located where it was when the county's comprehensive plan was adopted in 1990, within the right-of-way of the Main Relief Canal. Because the Lundberg Road/58th Avenue intersection is dangerous and IRCC plans a substantial expansion, a new access road is planned by the county's public works department. The existing Lundberg Road alignment is dangerous because of its close proximity to the 58th Avenue bridge over the Main Relief Canal. For that reason, Lundberg Road will be moved to the north boundary of the subject property. Moving Lundberg Road to that location will resolve the safety issue. Additionally, relocating Lundberg Road to the subject property's north boundary would have significant negative impacts on residential development on_the site. Those impacts are primarily related to the mixing of commercial and residential traffic, and to the provision of buffers where commercial and residential uses abut. Such buffers are not required where a road separates commercial and residential uses. Therefore, the relocation of Lundberg Road to the north boundary of the subject property constitutes a substantial change in circumstances affecting the site. For that reason, the request meets the third criterion of Future Land Use Element Policy 13.3 and is consistent with the comprehensive plan. - Future Land Use Element Policy 1.23 Policy 1.23 of the Future Land Use Element states that no node should be considered for expansion unless 70!k of the land area (less rights-of-way) is developed, or approved for development, with non-agricultural and non-residential uses, unless otherwise warranted. The intent of Future Land Use Policy 1.23 is to establish specific criteria for node expansion. Without such criteria, decisions are often arbitrary and inconsistent. The 70%r standard, then, is a measure of whether a node needs to be expanded. According to the County's Commercial/ Industrial Data Source, the subject node is 72.5 developed. Therefore, the proposed amendment to expand the node is consistent with Future Land Use Element Policy 1.23. - Future Land Use Element Policy 1.20 Future Land Use Element Policy 1.20 states that node size shall be based on population and other demand characteristics within the general market area of the node. The fact that the subject node is already 72.5* developed and is the fastest developing node in the county demonstrates that there is demand for additional land in that node. For those reasons, the request is consistent with Future Land Use Element Policy 1.20. MARCH 189 1997 34