Those who live and work in Franklin continued to participate in the policy making process on Wednesday, March 4 when the town’s planning department held a public informational meeting on the still-evolving comprehensive land use plan.
Over the summer, the department welcomed residents to a public charrette to gather suggestions on how land development in the town should be guided over the next few years. Nearly a year later, a draft plan is moving through the town government that focuses on those suggestions.
Stephen Faber, an architect for Stewart Inc., said that more than 420 people responded to surveys for the plan and that above all else, those people wanted to see Franklin maintain a small-town atmosphere that welcomed new arrivals and long-term residents alike.
“In Franklin, it’s all about town character,” Faber said. “We found that creating a sense of identity throughout the town was very important to people.”
The planners feel that the core of that identity is Franklin’s booming outdoor scene, which boosts the local economy and gives residents ample recreation options. As such, the plan suggests making improvements to the greenway and creating more green spaces downtown to encourage people to spend more time outdoors. The plan also prioritizes sidewalks and bike lanes, following the idea that more people would spend time out and about if they had more transportation options.
“We heard very loud and clear that there’s a demand for more walking and biking around here,” multimodal transportation specialist Rachael Bronson said. “People want more options for getting around.”
In infrastructural terms, the plan has a variety of strategies for aiding the local economy. The planners feel that developing smaller, more walkable neighborhoods in mixed-use districts, encouraging store owners to utilize both floors of their buildings and creating more access to parking will encourage more shopping at local businesses.
As far as attracting those businesses goes, the plan agrees with most Macon County residents on what the biggest obstacle is – unreliable and often slow internet service – that needs to be improved.
“We talk to a lot of people who want to start a business here, and that is the one area of infrastructure that gets in the way,” community development consultant Stacy Guffey said. “It may not even be that it isn’t there, but that when it is there, it’s too expensive.”
Some attendees at the meeting were skeptical of how much the plan would achieve. Jim Clink, for example, expressed concern that local property owners would be slow to embrace the changes that the plan suggested. Since the plan is more of a general guide for future policy than a set of concrete proposals, he wondered if it would fall by the wayside without enough public support.
“It’s good to have a plan,” Clink said. “But are developers going to show an interest? Is the community going to support it? Right now it’s just a vision.”
On principle, however, most the attendees liked what they saw in the draft. Griffin Tolbert said that he attended the charrette last summer and was pleased to see his priorities reflected in the draft, particularly preserving the area’s natural beauty while still opening up opportunities for small businesses.
“We moved here in 2014 from Lexington, Kentucky and loved it just how it was,” Tolbert said. “In Lexington, you couldn’t find a farm that was still this close and connected to the town. … Looking at the meeting last year, I was so afraid they were going to turn Franklin into a bunch of strip malls, so I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who voted against that.”
The plan still has a few months before it will be put in front of Franklin Town Council for a vote. The town’s planning board will vote on whether or not to recommend it to the council at their March meeting, the council members will review it in April and they’ll likely take a month to think it over before voting on it in May. During that time, Faber said that the planners still want to hear more feedback from any residents who feel the current draft is inadequate.
“We’re still absolutely looking for more feedback,” Faber said. “Make all the comments and ask all the questions you want.”
As for the feasibility of the plan, town planner Justin Setser said the department is committed to improving the quality of life in Franklin and will oversee those improvements at every opportunity.
“Some of these points are going to be a quick fix,” Setser said. “Some of them are going to take more long-term planning, but I’m not a fan of seeing plans sit on the shelf.”
To read the current draft of the comprehensive land use plan in its entirety, go online to franklintownplan.com. For more information, email Setser at jsetser@franklinnc.com or email Jake Petrosky of Stewart Inc. at jpetrosky@stewartinc.com.