The Franklin Planning Board gave its OK on two rezoning requests that will now be forwarded to the Town Council for public hearings and final approval.
During the Nov. 21 meeting, one of the requests the board reviewed was from the town itself to change the zoning of the former Angel Medical Center from MICR (Medical Institutional Cultural Residential) to C-1 (Commercial).
“This site is transitioning away from medical,” Town Planner Justin Setser said of the 13.53 acres between Riverview Street and White Oak Street. “With the hospital leaving the downtown area, the MICR district isn’t the best use of the zone anymore.”
HCA owns the hospital property and has offered it to the town with the stipulation that it not be used for anything that competes with services the hospital provides. Angel Medical Center moved in September to its new facility off the Hwy. 441 Bypass.
The town has received a $267,000 grant from Dogwood Health Trust to study potential uses for the property and has contracted with Givens Estates to provide consultative services.
At the November Town Council meeting, the board approved a $155,000 contract with SFCS Architects to coordinate and complete the feasibility study of the former hospital. The study will determine the suitability of converting the old hospital into independent senior living apartments and associated amenity and service spaces. SFCS estimated the study would take four to five months.
“We certainly need senior housing,” said Planning Board Vice Chair Janet Greene. “I hope it works out.”
Setser agreed pointing out that the town’s comprehensive plan identifies a need for housing in the downtown area.
The rezoning request will now go to the Town Council to set a public hearing to be held during the Jan. 3 meeting, followed by a vote on the request. The area under consideration for rezoning is the main hospital property (12.98 acres) and a small parcel (.55 acre) designated for parking. It does not include the doctors building below the hospital.
Plantation Drive
The other request the Planning Board heard was from Stephen Baldwin, who applied to have the zoning on two parcels changed from R-1 (residential) to C-2 (secondary commercial).
Baldwin owns 1.95 acres on Belleview Road. The front portion of that property is already zoned C-2, and he uses it for his landscaping business; the remainder is zoned residential. He said he was recently able to acquire an adjoining 4.06 acres on Plantation Drive. That property includes a vacant house that the former owner lived in, but the majority of the land is wooded.
Baldwin said it would be used for his landscaping business, primarily in the mornings before they go out to work and again when they return in the afternoon at the end of the workday. He said the adjoining property would also allow him to improve the entrance to his business, which is now a blind drive.
The request will go to the Town Council in December to set a public hearing and vote on the request at the Jan. 3 meeting.
The Planning Board meets at 4 p.m. the third Monday of the month at Town Hall. Unless any new requests are submitted, the board will not meet in December.