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Planning Commission 471-97: O'Neil Property111 March 8, 1997 Page 6 includes a number of policies regarding buffering between land uses. These have been included in Appendices 1 and 2. 2. Inconsistency between Comp Plan and Zoning: The designation for approximately 17 acres of the O'Neil property is inconsistent with the zoning in terms of use (commercial versus residential). According to State law, zoning takes precedence over comprehensive plan designations. Unless the zoning is changed from commercial to residential, the most likely use of the 17 acres is commercial. It is to be expected that the property owner would resist action to change the zoning from commercial to residential. 3. Suitability for Single Family Residential: There is some question whether it is appropriate to put single family residential adjacent to Highway 10. If a single family residential development were built, it is likely that it would be"walled off" from the highway tocreate a liveable environment. The result would be blank face or dead spot in the middle of the "community center" district and along the highway. 4. Value as Commercial Property: The O'Neil parcel is prime commercial property with its frontage along the Highway 10, given the premium placed on visibility by high volumes of traffic by commercial uses, and the availability of access from an arterial highway and the I-35 corridor. The market for neighborhood or community retail commercial is weak, as evidenced by the vacancies in the Mounds View Square Shopping Center and Silver View Plaza and as reported in a recent market study by Towle Real Estate for the Highway 10 corridor in Mounds View. This application indicates that there is market interest in the property for specialty commercial development. 5. Effect on City's Tax Base: • If the property were developed as single family residential, it would cost the City more in services than it will generate in revenue. If it were developed as commercial it would generate more revenue than it will cost in services. • When looking at the overall picture, the City has a very limited amount of land in commercial zoning or commercial uses (3.9% in 1990), and an extensive amount of land in single family residential (45.1% in 1990). One possible goal of land use planning is to balance the types of land uses to create a sustainable economy and a reasonable level of taxes for services. Commercial uses pay more property taxes than does single family residential development. Commercial uses which attract customers from a wider area than the City's boundaries import dollars, and may create additional spending at other Mounds View businesses such as restaurants. They may prompt additional commercial development which also adds to the tax base.