Planning Commission - workshop

Hi, I'm Melissa Ryerson with the City of Franklin, and here's what happened at this week's BOMA work session and board meeting.

The Development Services Advisory Commission gave their annual update at the work session. The commission is made up of members of the development community, such as design professionals. This past year, the commission has given feedback for the upcoming development dashboard being created by our planning department. input for the Development Customer Survey for Fall 2027, and guidance for recent changes to state law. The commission was created by Mayor Dr. Ken Moore to assure the development process is fair and consistent to our community. Several parks projects were also discussed at the work session. The Parks Department reported on the new Rotary Plaza, Completion date will be around mid-October. The Carter Hill Battlefield concept plan was discussed. Road closures, amenities, and other items were talked about. The property will be transferred from Franklin's Charge to the Parks and Recreation Department. With both sides of the Strahl Street being part of the Carter Hill Park, The city's Parks and Recreation staff is suggesting the closure of Strahl Street and continuation of the sidewalk to create trail systems for neighboring communities to access the downtown area. Amenities will include benches and picnic tables and ADA accessibility improvements. In addition to those two park projects, The board also discussed naming the Bicentennial Pavilion after former Franklin citizen Ralph E. Drury. Drury was part of the original leadership Franklin class, who was an advocate to purchase the property from the Georgia Boot Factory. He also made many contributions to the Franklin community, including about $4 million raised by his organization, A Vintage Affair. Drury passed away three years ago, and Franklin's naming rights policy requires a person to be passed for three years before naming an entity. The process will be open for public input for 30 days. At the end of the work session, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen had a discussion on the analysis to the fire department schedule. The board heard from members of the city working group, including the Office of Budget and Performance, Human Resources and Administration, and the fire department about revising the current 24 hours on and 48 hours off schedule. other scheduling options including a 24 hours on and 72 hours off option. The working group discussed the cost impacts to service to the community, impact on fire employees and financial budgetary impact. 10 peer cities in and out of Tennessee with various scheduling options were analyzed by working group during the review process. The work of the team reviewing these options is ongoing and more information will be provided at future meetings. At the board meeting, longtime city employee, building and neighborhood services director Tom Marsh, who is retiring after more than 25 years of service, was recognized for his service to the city. He was thanked for his unwavering commitment to the city. Tom started as a planner and moved up to the Director of Building and Neighborhood Services in 2019. Tom has contributed to the city's commitment to excellence and guiding the city's development process toward a more collaborative and transparent service-focused approach, which has enhanced the quality of life for citizens of Franklin.

thank you all for the recognition in this moment and thank you for the support and the participation over all the years that we have worked together appreciate that you've always supported staff we've had good discussions we've had good challenges and we've always worked for the betterment of the community across the board so thank you all very much and that's what's moving forward in franklin this week for more information go to franklintn.gov boma brief