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2 <br />from the requirement of including a TIS. In considering a rezoning, the governing <br />board must take into account the full range of uses permitted in the requested <br />district, making it somewhat more difficult to prepare a TIS which focused on specific <br />impacts. While the particular use under consideration by the applicant could not he <br />identified, he /she could still analyze the range of traffic impacts (low -high) <br />associated with rezoning. This would allow the governing board to make a more informed <br />decision. <br />2. The definitions and method for determining the geographical extent of the <br />required "study area" and "improvements" area need to be clarified. It is uncertain <br />and open -ended as to how far away from a project the developer must evaluate existing <br />and future traffic patterns. <br />While it is agreed that a "defined" study area is desirable, the type, size, and <br />location of projects varies so much that it is difficult to derive a standard which <br />uniformly reflects this diversity. An argument could also be made that the applicant <br />will benefit by being able to "negotiate" the study area boundaries. A standard could <br />be proposed/ adopted which is actually detrimental to him /her. The Planning Department <br />is not interested in stretching the boundaries as far as possible. Traffic impacts <br />will disperse as distance from the project increases. Thus, the focus of the <br />Department will be on the area immediately adjacent to the project and beyond that, on <br />intersections/ facilities which may be negatively impacted . <br />3. High vehicle trip generation rates appear to have been used to establish thresholds <br />for development that would be required to complete a TIS. it appears that threshold <br />levels used for various land uses are considerably lower than those used for other <br />areas. Consideration should be given to increasing these threshold levels and <br />expanding the threshold list. <br />The basic standard or threshold for development is 800 trips per day. Shown on <br />Attachment A are the trip generation rates for the representative land uses shown on <br />Table 13.1. As illustrated by the range of trip rates, high vehicle trip generation <br />rates were not used to establish thresholds. Average trip rates were used. <br />The application of the average trip rates to the typical thresholds shown in Table <br />13.1 does not result, however, in projected traffic of 800 trips per day. The <br />alternate thresholds shown on Attachment A do correspond with the basic standard and <br />are recommended for use. <br />4. The proposed threshold of 100 trips during the peal: hours of traffic may require <br />several types of development that would not have required a TIS under the old <br />ordinance to now complete a TIS. <br />On Attachment A, the number of trips generated by the land uses shown on Table 13.1 <br />has been calculated for both an average weekdav and for the average daily Am and PM <br />peak hours of highway traffic. Also shown is AM and PM peak hour traffic as a <br />percentage of total weekday traffic. <br />The purpose for incorporating a peak -hour threshold was to cover uses that generate a <br />high proportion of trips during the peak hours. As shown on Attachment A, there are <br />very few uses which generate high proportions. For this reason, it would seem more <br />