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Fr- -I BOOK 103 PAGE354 This Comprehensive Plan amendment request will lead to the type of development described in the previous paragraphs. An M-1 land use designation would permit up to 150 single-family residential units on the subject property. Indian River County has not planned for intense development of that nature in the part of the county where the subject property is located. Further, development of that nature would be an invasion into an area dominated by agricultural uses, which is a major industry in the county. Future Land Use Policy 1.1 Policy 1.1 requires Indian River County to adopt the Future Land Use Map. This trap illustrates the land use designation pattern for the entire county. Approximately 33,720 acres of Indian River County are designated for residential land uses according to the Future Land Use Map. A residential allocation ratio (RAR) compares the number of residential units allowed by the Future Land Use Map during a certain time period to the number of residential units needed daring that time period. Along with historic land use patterns and other factors, an RAR can be a useful tool to determine the county's residential land use needs. Comparing the expected need with the existing acreage of residentially designated land, Indian River County has an RAR of 4.48. A 4.48 RAR indicates that the county currently has more than four times the amount of residentially designated land needed to accommodate the county's population in 2010. Based on existing conditions, as well as existing population growth patterns, designating the subject property M-1 would be premature. Indian River County's RAR indicates that a need does not exist to redesignate the subject property to M-1. Future Land Use Policy 1.13 This policy states that "the Medium -Density Residential Land Use Designations are intended for areas which are suitable for urban scale development and intensities." Policy 1.13 Rather states that "these districts shall be located within the Urban Service Area." Staffs position is that, currently, the subject property is not suitable for urban scale development and intensity. As mentioned in the Descriptions and Conditions section, wastewater service is currently not available to the subject property. Also mentioned in the Descriptions and Conditions section is that the subject property is not in the Urban Service Area of Indian River County, nor is the subject property contiguous to the Urban Service Area. In fact, the nearest Urban Service Area boundary is more than a half mile from the subject property: Medium -Density Residential Use Designations shall only be located within the Urban Service Area of the county. Future Land Use Objective 2 and Policies 2.1, 2.2, and 2.5 Objective 2, as well as policies 2.1, 2.2, and 2.5, relate to the Urban Service Area of Indian River County. Objective 2 states that all new residential development greater than 2 umts/acre shall occur within the Urban Service Area, which contains the infrastructure and services needed to accommodate such development. Policy 2.1 references the map that Indian River County has adopted to depict the Urban Service Area. Policy 2.2 describes the type of areas that are included in the Urban Service Area Finally, Policy 2.5 indicates that Indian River County will encourage and direct growth into the Urban Service Area through various regulations. The proposed Comprehensive Plan amendment would permit densities of up to 8 units per acre on the subject property. Density levels of up to 8 units per acre are not permitted outside the Urban Service Area as indicated in Objective 2 of the Future Land Use Element and, as the Future Land Use Map illustrates, the subject property is outside the Urban Service Area The subject property is not contiguous to the existing Urban Service Area and cannot be included in the Urban Service Area. These areas do not contain the services deemed necessary to support development in an urban or suburban setting at levels identified in the Comprehensive Plan. Therefore, having an M-1 land use designation on the subject property would not be appropriate. In June 1993, the county initiated a request to amend the Comprehensive Plan by enlarging the Urban Service Area to include land along both sides of Oslo Road from 58th Avenue to 74th Avenue, which incorporates the northern portion of the Bessemer property, and to change the land use from AG -1 (up to 1 unit/5 acres) to R, Rural (up to 1 unit/acre). The request was submitted based upon the results of a staff study. That study, mandated by Future Land Use Policy 1.37, addressed the issue of utility lines located in road rights-of-way, where the subject roads serve as Urban Service Area boundaries. Through that study, staff determined that the Urban Service Area boundary could be expanded to include a half mile wide strip (a quarter mile on each side) along the segment of Oslo Road, between 58th Avenue and 74th Avenue. The request was denied by the Board of County Commissioners. The basis of the Board of County Commissioners' decision was that the county did not need any additional residentially designated lands and that expansion of the Urban Service Area NOVEMBER 4, 1997 58