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Memo to Planning Commission/ZC 00-6/LU 00-7 November 21,2000 Page 2 • Existing Conditions The property is level, with frontage on both 218th Avenue and Highway 169. 218th Avenue is a private drive that provides access to a farm, a single family home and commercial kennel, and this property. The site has a small metal building on it and is currently being used as a landscape business. There is no dwelling on the site. The surrounding land uses include a commercial kennel (Rin Tin Inn) and a single family residence on the north side of 218th. To the south and east are undeveloped properties. To the west is Highway 169 and the gravel mines. The surrounding properties are all zoned agricultural and the properties to the east, south and west are also included in the mining overlay district. This property and the property to the north are not in the mining overlay district. The property is outside the urban service area and is not served by municipal sewer or water. The existing landscape business is not an allowed use in the Al district. The applicant established the business at this location without contacting the City to see if it was an allowed use. The agricultural district does allow some limited commercial uses but not landscaping businesses. Landscaping businesses would be classified in the same category as a garden center and are a permitted use in the Highway Commercial District. • Analysis Access The highway commercial district is intended to be the most intensive commercial district. According to the Comprehensive Plan the purpose is to, "provide for high impact commercial uses that typically require access onto the highway system." This property does not have direct access to a public street. Access to Highway 169 is via a private gravel drive, which is not acceptable for highway commercial property. Uses According to the Zoning Code, the Agricultural Conservation District was established to preserve, promote, maintain and enhance the use of land for agricultural purposes, to prevent leap-frog nonfarm development and protect expenditures for public services. Establishing an isolated highway commercial parcel in the middle of the Agricultural Conservation District would be contrary to the purpose of the Agricultural Conservation District. The highway commercial district allows a wide variety of intense commercial • uses that would not be appropriate for this location (see attached list of uses S:\PLANNING\SCOTT\ZC00-6.DOC