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• with surrounding uses and the potential impacts to nearby residential areas of each of the alternate sites with County staff. There is concurrence between the County Community Development Department and the City staff that the proposed site is appropriate for a substation. Further, only one boundary of this site abuts property that is used for residential purposes. The Indian River County Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations recognize that public facilities, including electrical substations, must be located within residential zoning districts. Thus, the use itself has been predetermined to be compatible with other uses allowed in residential districts as long as the development complies with the Land Development Regulations. The proposed substation complies with or exceeds all of the County Land Development Regulations. Further, the plan significantly exceeds the landscaping requirements. Uses that surround the site include a single family home to the west, 58m Avenue and groves to the east, 2& Street and vacant RS -3 zoned property to the north and the Westminster Presbyterian Church to the south. When considering compatibility with surrounding uses, issues such as traffic generation, drainage, nuisance impacts, lighting, noise, aesthetics, use intensity, bulk of buildings, and building height are generally addressed. Most of these issues have been addressed in the report from the Community Development Department to the Planning and Zoning Commission (attached) dated March 18, 1988. The proposed substation will create virtually no impact on the surrounding uses. Traffic and noise will be virtually non-existent and the site will be extremely well landscaped. Compared to the adjacent church that apparently was found to meet the standards included in the Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations, the substation will have virtually no impact and will be very compatible with surrounding uses. A good example of a public facility expansion that has been determined necessary by the County is the widening of 58' Avenue. Certainly noise, traffic, dust, drainage, and lighting associated with the roadway expansion does not represent the most desirable setting for the single family development that will be adjacent to the expanded roadway. The roadway widening will have both positive and adverse impacts on the public health safety and welfare. However, the overall good of the public and compliance with the Comprehensive Plan have led the County to move forward with expansion of the roadway. The location of an electrical substation along the roadway to accommodate existing and future development is no less important than widening of the roadway. Just as failure to expand the roadway will result in interruptions in traffic flow and a poorly operating transportation system; failure to allow the substation will result in interruptions in electricity flow and a poorly operating electric distribution system. In terms of noise, traffic, dust, drainage, lighting and other potential nuisances, the proposed substation will have a much less impact on the surrounding land uses than the roadway expansion. NO ADVERSE BIPACTS ON PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE Obviously, public facilities have to be expanded from time to time to meet the demands of growth. The County Comprehensive Plan policies recognize this fact and require the County to take appropriate action. Expansion of public facilities is generally done to promote positive impacts on the public health, safety and welfare. For instance, if a substation is not built, the potential for electric outages during the peak use time increases. The peak use times are generally when there is extreme cold or heat. These are the times when negative public health impacts are felt if the power supply is not maintained. The Land Development Regulations require that the proposal include any landscape and structural improvements to effectively mitigate potential negative impacts of the use. In response to this requirement, the City proposal includes substantial setbacks, significantly more landscape buffering than required by the County Land Development Regulations and underground transmission lines coming into the substation and underground distribution lines leaving the substation. The only overhead lines that will be present will be those that will be present regardless of the location of the substation. The proposed substation will have no adverse impacts on the public health, safety or general welfare. PROMOTE ORDERLY DEVELOPMENT Orderly development that depends on the availability of electrical power cannot occur without construction of a substation that will provide for distribution of that electrical power. APRIL 211,1998 0 -39-