The Town of Franklin is buying a 13.9-acre piece of property to allow better access to its water and sewer lines and possibly create an extension of the Little Tennessee Greenway.
The Town Council has met in closed session several times to discuss the property purchase and following a closed session on Sept. 6, the council voted to buy the tract from Mainspring Conservation Trust for $22,000. Council member Rita Salain abstained from voting because she serves on the Mainspring board of directors.
The property is located between Allman Road and Siler Road, behind the Macon County Public Library. Mainspring bought the property from Glenn and Linda Dills for $162,500 in April 2017. The Macon County Tax Office lists the value of the land at $262,290.
Town Manager Amie Owens said it is difficult for the town to access the lines in that area and the property will give them a better entrance to get work trucks in as needed. The property will also provide the opportunity for a future Greenway extension.
Owens was on the agenda for Tuesday night’s Board of Commissioners meeting to review a draft of a Memorandum of Understanding with Macon County concerning the property. As part of the proposed agreement, the town would pursue funding to develop the property along Cartoogechaye Creek as part of the Greenway and the county would assume responsibility for managing and maintaining it, as the county does for the remainder of the Greenway.
Citizens request
speed limit reduction
During the Sept. 6 Town Council meeting, the board heard a request from residents on Riverview Heights Street to reduce the speed limit from 25 to 15 mph on the dead end section of the street. Susie Nichols said she has lived there 45 years, but the number of speeding cars has gotten worse in the last five years.
“It’s becoming a safety issue,” she said.
The section of the street narrows from two lanes to one and there are no sidewalks. There are currently no speed limit signs posted on that section of Riverview Heights Street. No streets in town have a speed limit lower than 20 mph.
Six property owners along that section of the street signed a petition asking for the speed limit change; one property owner did not sign it.
The council agreed to have Town Attorney John Henning Jr. draft a resolution to change the speed limit with the possibility for a vote on the issue at the October meeting.
Tourism Development
Authority request
The council approved the Tourism Development Authority’s request to amend its budget by transferring $125,000 from its fund balance. The TDA funding comes from the lodging tax collected at hotels, motels, inns, cabins, vacation rentals, etc. in the city limits.
The approved 2021-2022 budget was $140,000 (amended to $165,000) with $175,907.45 collected in lodging tax from July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022. The original 2022-2023 budget was $140,000 and with the amendment the budget will be $265,000 for this fiscal year. As of Aug. 31, the TDA Fund had a balance of $153,113.10.
The increase in funding will be used for additional advertising and marketing and to support local events that draw tourists to town. Local event organizers can submit funding requests to the TDA. The TDA board supports events throughout the year with funding for advertising of the events.
The act governing the TDA states that two-thirds of the lodging tax collections must be spent to promote travel and tourism and the remaining one-third may be spent on tourism-related expenditures.
Loan increase
for water project
The council gave Owens the go-ahead to request an increase in the town’s revolving loan fund from the state for Phase II of improvements at the water treatment plant. The town was previously approved for $8.8 million. However, the estimated cost of the project has increased to $12.4 million. Owens said even with making some adjustments to the original plan there is still a $2.4 million deficit for the project.
Council member David Culpepper suggested waiting a little longer if possible to see if the cost of materials decreases. However, with the current timeframe, the project would need to be ready to bid in May or June so that construction can begin in August 2023.
The board voted to send a request to the state to increase the loan by $2.5 million.
Street closures
The following street closures were approved:
• Nikwasi Lane on Sept. 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the Trail of Tears National Conference.
• Iotla Street on Oct. 8 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. for a concert and street dance at the gazebo, presented by Arts Council of Macon County.
• A portion of Carolina Mountain Drive on Oct. 29 from 3:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. for a Sk828 fundraiser at Altered Frequencies.
Upcoming meetings
• The Franklin Town Council will meet in a called session with the Macon County Board of Commissioners and the Town of Highlands Board of Commissioners at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22 at Town Hall. The purpose of the meeting is for dinner and discussion. The boards will not vote collectively on items discussed. The three boards have not met jointly in two years.
• The regular Town Council meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3 at Town Hall.