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130 - <br /> _ <br /> average subdivided lot size between 1980 and 1987 has <br /> actually been higher than two acres, at 3.33 acres. <br /> Escalating land prices and a diminishing availability of raw <br /> land, though, will likely push the average lot size down. <br /> Two acres represents the minimum lot size in the most <br /> restrictive residential zoning category of the Orange County <br /> Zoning Ordinance as of 1987. <br /> Residential development creates in its wake the need for <br /> land to accommodate commercial and other non-residential <br /> uses. The non-residential acreage requirement of 200 <br /> additional acres by the year 2005 is not based on a <br /> quantitative formula. It is based, rather, on existing <br /> patterns in the Township and the expressed desires of <br /> Bingham Township residents to see stringent controls <br /> placed on commercial development. <br /> Allocation of Growth <br /> The primary task of the Land Use Plan is to <br /> geographically allocate growth throughout the Township in <br /> accordance with County-wide goals and policies and the policy <br /> statements guiding Township growth. The amount of land <br /> allocated to accommodate projected growth is usually <br /> substantially greater than the calculated need in order to 411 <br /> allow for variations in the availability of land and the <br /> exercise of market forces. This is not the case in Bingham <br /> Township, especially for commercial activity. Community <br /> preferences desire stringent limits to commercial growth in <br /> most areas of the Township. <br /> The following allocation guidelines are derived for <br /> Bingham Township from County and Township policies that <br /> created the process for determining in which direction new <br /> growth is to be channelled: <br /> *Commercial and non-farm residential development <br /> will be directed away from areas that, if such <br /> development were to occur, would have negative <br /> impacts on water supply watersheds, <br /> *Rural non-farm residential development will be <br /> allocated so as to avoid negative environmental or <br /> economic impacts on agriculture, and minimize <br /> negative environmental impacts on surface and <br /> groundwater not part of a public drinking water <br /> supply. <br /> 411 <br />