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packing houses have been built on land to the east of the subject property. In fact, the area surrounding the intersection of 45`h Street and Old Dixie Highway has developed into a hub for agricultural packing houses. This change in circumstances, which has had the effect of making the subject property unsuitable for residential development, was an oversight and a mistake of the 1990 Comprehensive Plan. Therefore, an expansion of the U.S. 1 C/I node is warranted, since the expansion will enable the subject property to be correctly designated for non-residential uses. Future Land Use Objective 4 Redesignating the subject property to a commercial/industrial land use may reduce the length of daily automobile trips on county roadways. A reduction in trip length is the purpose of objective 4 of the Future Land Use Element. A commercial/industrial use on the subject property may eliminate the need for residents to travel to a similar use that is located further from their home. This will reduce the length of daily automobile trips generated by those residents and in turn will contribute to attaining objective 4 of the Future Land Use Element. While the referenced objectives and policies are particularly applicable to this request, other Comprehensive Plan policies and objectives also have relevance. For that reason, staff evaluated the subject request for consistency with all plan policies and objectives. Based upon that analysis, staff determined that the request is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Staffs position is that a commercial/industrial land use designation and CG, General Commercial, zoning are appropriate for the site and that such development would be compatible with surrounding land uses. Since properties to the north and east of the subject property have the same land use designation as is being requested for the subject property, the request is for a continuation of an existing land use designation pattern. With the FEC railway bordering the subject property along the east property line, the proposed amendment would eliminate potential incompatibilities associated with small residential lots being located adjacent to railroad tracks. Given that a train's sound and vibration are less intrusive on commercial or industrial uses than on residential uses, a commercial/industrial land use designation for the subject property would be more compatible with the FEC railway than the current residential land use designation. In certain circumstances, land that abuts railroad tracks can be designated for residential uses. Those circumstances usually occur only with large tracts of residentially designated land. Such large tracts have the necessary area to mitigate the effects of railroad tracks through various buffering and site design techniques. Small tracts such as the subject property, however, have insufficient area to do SO. A commercial/industrial land use designation and a CG zoning district designation for the subject property will also be compatible with the agricultural packing houses located on the east side of Old Dixie Highway. Besides acting as a buffer between the FEC railway and the existing residential uses, CG zoning will provide a suitable transitional zoning between the RM -10 (up to 10 units/acre) zoning district and the CH, Heavy Commercial, zoning district. While commercial development of the subject property may affect the existing residential uses to the west, such impacts will be minimal due to factors such as setback, buffering, and site design requirements. In addition, the 24`� Avenue right-of-way, which is approximately 30 feet, will act as a buffer between the existing residential uses and any future commercial uses. September 22, 1998 47 BOOK I PAGE. il