5.1. 5.2. HRSR 07-28-1997 - Laserfiche WebLink

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opportunities extended north towards 197th. The City Council did agree with the Steering Committee and Planning Commission that there is a need to buffer the residential if commercial was to occur. With the availability of water and sewer, new commercial development along U.S. Highway 169 between U.S. Highway 10 and 197th Avenue will continue to blossom into Elk River's commercial retail corridor. The planning and development of this corridor will need to be carefully reviewed to prevent the appearance of "strip commercial" ; rather, strive to maintain a high level of aesthetic quality both visually and structurally. The southeast corner of U.S. Highway 169 and Main Street has been an area discussed for future commercial. The amount of land and locational qualities ranks this area as having strong potential for commercial development. Directly across U.S. Highway 169 toward the west, commercial development of a lesser intensity would compliment the surrounding land uses. U.S. Highway 10 has two distinct corridors, the east and west. The east corridor currently does not have municipal water and sewer available. However, the Comprehensive Plan calls for municipal utilities to be extended sometime in the future. The extension of utilities will be determined based on market demands and financial ability to serve this area. In the interim, the key for east U.S. Highway 10 will be to limit commercial growth today allowing future extension of utilities to occur in a cost effective manner. Also,without city services, land values will be slightly less; therefore, attractive to less intense uses such as open sales lots, mini storage facilities, etc. When City water and sewer is eventually extended down this corridor, redevelopment of less intense land uses will most likely occur. Conversely,west U.S. Highway 10 was included in the urban service area when the 1988 Growth Management Plan was adopted. Utilities are incrementally being extended to serve the western area. The commercial activity along this western corridor is planned to occur primarily at intersections of local streets with U.S. Highway 10. For example, Proctor Avenue, Joplin and either Waco or the Zebulon alignment are planned to be signalized intersections where commercial activity could be developed with good accessibility and minimizing impact on surrounding land uses. Commercial activity along west U.S. Highway 10 will be best characterized as neighborhood or community oriented. In other words, the larger scale commercial developments found along U.S. Highway 169 are not intended to occur along west U.S. Highway 10. The commercial uses are designed to benefit surrounding residential areas, the business park and office development and convenient service demands of external traffic. 4. Business Park The commercial element of the business park should be limited in area and provide support services to surrounding businesses. Commercial should be located at controlled intersections and on the edge or at the entrance to business park developments. • 23