The Franklin Town Council approved amendments to its junk car ordinance and discussed overall code enforcement during its monthly meeting on April 1.
Town Manager Amie Owens said the way the ordinance was previously worded it seemed all the criteria had to be met for a vehicle to be declared abandoned or junked. The ordinance now has the word “or” included in the definitions.
An abandoned car is defined as a vehicle left upon a public street or highway in violation of a law or ordinance prohibiting parking; or on property owned or operated by the town for more than 24 hours; or on private property without the consent of the owner, occupant or lessee for longer than two hours; or on a public street or highway and is either left for longer than seven days or determined by law enforcement to be a hazard to the motoring public.
A junked car is defined as a vehicle that does not display a current license plate and is partially dismantled or wrecked; or cannot be self-propelled or moved in the manner in which it originally was intended to move; or is more than five years old and appears to be worth less than $500.
During his departmental report, Town Planner Justin Setser shared a series of before and after photos showing some areas in town where code violation improvements/corrections had been made and other areas where there had not been much change over the past couple of years.
Council member Rita Salain asked what type of resources are available to help a property owner clean up their property if they are in violation. “It’s primarily on the property owner,” Setser replied.
Council member David Culpepper said that while some of the pictures showed areas that needed to be addressed that most of them did not offend him. As he has stated in previous meetings, Culpepper said, “I don’t want to make it illegal to be poor in Franklin.”
He said the town should put focus on more serious conditions and the worst offenders. “I don’t want to be part of a town that goes and busts people’s balls because they have an appliance on their porch. They’ve lived that way forever.”
“If you live in town you want to make sure that you live in a good, clean, safe place and do what you can not to not offend your neighbors,” said Mayor Jack Horton, noting that there are people who don’t have much money. He quoted his mother as saying, “You can be poor, but you don’t have to be nasty.”
Horton said there are organizations and volunteers who can help people who don’t have the means to clean up their property. “There is an alternative,” he said. However, he said if people don’t clean up just because they don’t want to, he doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for that.
Vice Mayor Stacy Guffey said some people live in town with the expectation that they will have protections for their property and don’t have to live in situations with their property surrounded by junk. He gave an example of what was once a well-kept house that was surrounded by pastures in a nice, peaceful clean neighborhood but is now run down with a junk yard.
“Whose property rights are more important?” Guffey asked. “People have an expectation to live in a place that’s clean, that’s safe, and it’s not always just the way something looks.” He said having junk piled up near your house leads to conditions you might not have had before such as mosquitos and rodents and that causes safety concerns for neighboring property owners.
Culpepper said, “We have done non-positive things with our code enforcement office in the past.” He said the town should be using its resources for solving problems rather than looking for “infractions that are benign.” “We’re trying to solve problems that are egregious – that is where our codes enforcement focus should be.”
The town approved the hiring of a code enforcement officer in 2021 and hired Frank Belanger in August 2022. Belanger has resigned, effective April 4 and the town will be advertising for the position in the coming weeks.
Guffey said he and Culpepper have some common ground and suggested that before they advertise for the code enforcement officer position that they look at what the focus of the job should be rather than walking Main Street looking for someone parked with their tires against the sidewalk.
Setser also reported that they had gotten bids on demolition of the house at 981 East Main Street and the one at the intersection of Wilkie and Palmer Street.
Salain said she was glad to see the town looking at properties that need to be cleaned up. “It makes the town look better, and I think that it makes people feel better if they are not living in areas that look really bad. I’m glad that we’re focusing on that.”
Culpepper asked if the old landfill property off Lake Emory Road will ever by usable. Council member Joe Collins said he has previously asked the county about the property and would like the county to show why it is not usable. Culpepper said he thought it would be a good area for developing a mountain bike trail.
The council also approved the following during the April 1 meeting:
• A policy update that will encourage the use of local vendors. The local buying preference will apply to contracts less than $30,000 and will allow local eligible bidders to match the price and terms of the lowest non-local bidder, if the local bidder is within two percent of the lowest non-local bidder. The contracts may be for purchases of apparatus, supplies and equipment and for construction and repairs.
• A $50 fee for anyone applying for the new temporary use permit, which will allow people to live in a camper or travel trailer while building or remodeling their home.
• Town Manager Amie Owens applying for a $500,000 N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund Grant for the initial work on developing the recreation area on the Whitmire property. The grant would be used for in inclusive play area, parking areas, restrooms and sidewalks. The grant requires a 1-to-1 match. Owens said the grant is due May 1 and they should know this summer if it is approved with funds awarded in the fall.
• Allocating $36,500 for the design to connect two waterlines and create a loop system at Siler Road and Berry Boulevard.
Public hearings
The council set May 6 as the date for public hearings on the following:
• Conditional district rezoning for a 10.63-acre tract of land located at 227 Siler Road,
• Conditional district rezoning for 7.2 acres of the western portion of parcel with frontage on Siler Road and Firefly Lane,
• Conditional district rezoning for five acres located off Allman Drive,
• Conditional district rezoning of 3.63 acres located off the Highlands Road.
• Rezoning of 31.71 acres, Franklin High School property, from Neighborhood Mixed Use/R2 to change the entire property to R2.
The four conditional zoning requests are for proposed apartment complexes. The four different developers plan to build affordable housing and are applying for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program administered by the N.C. Housing Finance Agency. It is likely only one project will be awarded this year.
Guffey said he was happy to see proposals for residential development because there is a need for housing. “What I worry about is the impact on infrastructure,” he said.
For instance, with the developments proposed for Siler Road and Allman Drive he was concerned about the additional traffic, accessibility such as sidewalks and crosswalks, and the impact at one of the busiest intersections in town. “Let’s talk about that beforehand,” Guffey said.
Horton said as part of the conditional zoning they should “take into consideration concerns of other people who live in the area.”
The public hearings will be held during the regular Town Council meeting that begins at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 6. The Council will hold a budget workshop at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 16 at Town Hall.