06-19-2017 Planning Commission Packet

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Additionally,County Road 15,which is the key roadway serving Orono's suburban areas and particularly the Navarre area,is far over capacity. It is not practical from an economic or environmental standpoint to expand County Road 15 to increase its capacity. There- fore,additional housing options will be primarily developed along Orono's Highway 12 corridor in specifically identified areas that are or will be served by urban services.13(Emphasis added.) The CMP also lists "a number of challenges to be addressed as Navarre redevelops in the years to come."14 The first of these relates to keeping/ making Navarre a pedestrian-friendly location: High traffic volumes and the existing traffic management infrastruc- ture result in poor pedestrian accessibility.Pedestrians have limited options for crossing CR 15 or CR 19.15 In the seven years since the CMP was updated,the traffic and pedestrian situations have significantly worsened not only due to Orono's growth, but also due to the growth in surrounding communities,increasing through traffic.Adding 200 to 300 car trips per day for the proposed pro- ject would exacerbate in a meaningful way the current bad and danger- ous traffic and pedestrian situations in Navarre. Established Neighborhood Character-The height of the proposed build- ing far exceeds that of adjacent structures and is entirely inconsistent with the established neighborhood character. Northwest of the proposed building is the Freshwater Office Building ("FOB").As shown by the pictures on the following page,the FOB is one story when viewed from the front and two stories when viewed from the back.16 13 CMP page 3C-25. 14 CMP page 3B-38. 15 CMP page 3B-38. 16 Small architectural details of the FOB extend above the rest of the structure, but they do not change the one-story front/two-story back of the FOB. 6