03-23-1994 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Surrounding Land Uses. The proposed Super America is consistent with the surrounding land uses. The entire area is zoned B -3 General Business District. To the South is a gasoline service station, to the West is the Quicksilver delivery service, and the North is an office building. All of these land uses, including the proposed Super America, are consistent with the B -3 zoning designation. Circulation /Access /Traffic. Generally speaking, the proposed circulation pattern on the subject site appears well conceived. There appears to be adequate "backing space" for cars moving in and out of their parking spaces, and gasoline fueling area. There are two exit /entrances to the site, one off of Little Canada Road, and the other off of Country Drive. This would normally provide for a good circulation pattern in and out of the site. However, the adjacent roadways contain high volumes of traffic. Our office monitored traffic at the intersection of Little Canada Road and Country Drive during the hours of 4:00 - 5:00 pm., during which time, the existing restaurant was closed. While this was not a scientific study, it was very apparent that traffic becomes very congested on both roadways during these hours. The following highlights our study: ► While waiting at the red light on Little Canada Road at the intersection with Country Drive, cars would typically stack up 8 -13 cars long, and three cars wide. This stacking was located directly in front of the proposed entrance /exit onto Little Canada Road. This made turning left from the site extremely difficult for two reasons. First, when the light was green, high volumes of on- coming traffic from the West made the turn extremely difficult. Second, with the light red, cars backed up on Little Canada Road (waiting at the light), create a "wall" which prevents merging traffic to enter the roadway, unless another motorists creates room for the person making the left turn to enter. ► While waiting at the red light on Country Drive, cars backed up single file, as many as 5 -17 cars deep. In the instance when 17 cars were waiting at the light (4 times), the last 3 -4 cars did not make it through the intersection when the light turned green. One way to possibly ease the difficulty of turning left onto Little Canada Road, may be by a shared access with the lot to the West occupied by Quicksilver. As shown on Exhibit F, there is a parking and driveway easement between the two properties. If an arrangement could be worked out to share the entrance /exit located within the easement, turning left onto Little Canada Road becomes much easier for the patron of the Super America, as the driveway is located about 50 feet further away from the intersection, thus avoiding the back up of cars waiting at the red light. Page 30