Franklin’s Town Council voted to table a proposal that would allow Root and Barrel to build a patio in the alley between their restaurant and Town Hall.
After co-owner Brett Murphy made the pitch to the town at last month’s meeting, co-owners Gary and Virginia Murphy followed up on Monday night. Gary Murphy said the restaurant is one of the most successful businesses on Main Street and that they need more room to put all their customers in, especially in the era of social distancing. He says that adding more outdoor seating will help maximize business, not only at Root and Barrel but for the rest of Main Street as well.
“Six hundred people a week come through our doors,” he said. “These people come to Franklin, and after they eat, they go out and they shop. I don’t think there’s anybody else on Main Street who can say they bring in 600 customers a week.”
In 2019, the town’s planning department solicited feedback from residents to develop their comprehensive land use plan for the next few years. Their research suggested widespread support for a variety of enhancements to the downtown area that would allow for more outdoor activities, including outdoor dining.
Council member David Culpepper felt that ignoring an opportunity to let a Main Street business make such enhancements would be disregarding the will of the people.
“This is something people want to see in Franklin,” Culpepper said. “This is something that the Town of Franklin spent $90,000 for consultants to tell us that our constituents want to see. I don’t think it behooves us to throw it back in their face.”
However, the town owns the land in question, and several council members were uncomfortable with either leasing it or selling it outright to the restaurant. Jack Horton argued that giving town land to a private entity wouldn’t be inherently beneficial to citizens, especially if the land were bought outright rather than rented.
“I’m not in favor of separating us from the property,” Horton said. “I appreciate the restaurant, and the business and certainly the taxes that they bring in and the jobs that they’re creating, but I don’t think that it would serve the better public purpose for the town to provide an asset that belongs to the citizens for the benefit and profit of a personal individual.”
Joe Collins agreed, adding that he would expect the restaurant to gradually incorporate the patio space into the building and make the alley much smaller.
“That would end up being a permanent part of the restaurant because of just the nature of it,” Collins said. “The way it could be built with a roof and then put some sides down and put some heaters in and as much as that would be good in some ways for commerce, but it would pinch that whole side of the building, and I just can’t make myself believe that it’s in the best interest of the town.”
Collins, Horton and Dinah Mashburn all voted in favor of a motion to table the patio proposal, while Culpepper, Mike Lewis and vice mayor Barbara McRae voted against tabling the matter in hopes of further exploring the possibility. In his first-ever tiebreaking vote as mayor, Bob Scott voted in favor of the motion and the proposal was tabled.