New-photo
By David Walsh

STAFF REPORTS

The city of Franklin’s Department of Planning and Sustainability and its planning consultant, Town Planning & Urban Design Collaborative LLC (TPUDC), have recently completed a major update to the city’s zoning ordinance and have released a draft that’s available for public review.

It will be on the project website through the summer.

The goal of the zoning ordinance update is to guide the type of high-quality, vibrant and sustainable development prescribed by Envision Franklin, according to a press release from the city. Throughout the update process, planning staff has met with design professionals, development review team staff, and members of the Franklin Municipal Planning Commission and the Board of Mayor and Alderman. Franklin-based planning firm TPUDC is providing expertise in zoning, urban design, graphic design and community engagement.

More: New zoning ordinance for Franklin moves forward after input from citizens

In February, TPUDC and city staff hosted Planapalooza, a code demonstration and design process where stakeholders and the community had the opportunity to work directly with the consultant team. Planapalooza included presentations, workshops and round table discussions on topics such as neighborhood character, architecture and land use.

TPUDC’s planners tested draft zoning concepts through prototypical urban design scenarios. The input received during Planapalooza has played a valuable part in the drafting of the updated ordinance.

“We got a lot of good input and great feedback during the Planapalooza process,” Brian Wright, founding principal of TPUDC, said. “We’ve been working back and forth with [city of Franklin] staff to get the draft out. There have been many, many iterations to it. it’s been a collaborative process and we think it reflects the spirit of the input and all the work that went into it even before Planapalooza.

Wright said that while much of the input and feedback have come from professionals with stakes in the zoning process, the project has also been shaped by the voices of citizens.

“We got a good turnout from the people who weren’t professionals in design or development or whatever,” he explained. “The feedback we received from them was very helpful and beneficial, and I suspect they’ll continue to do so now that the draft is out. That’s really the time in a zoning ordinance process when the average citizen is involved, where they see how it does relate to them and how it doesn’t.”

The revised zoning ordinance weighs in at 385 pages, but Wright said it’s considerably more accessible than the current ordinance.

“We worked so hard to make it easy and user-friendly, and when you compare it to other zoning ordinances around the country, it is a normal length. And it’s particularly easy to read and simple and graphically focused in a way that a lot of zoning ordinances aren’t. … It’s intended to be accessible.”

More: Focus meetings provide Planapalooza staff a direction for Franklin’s new zoning

The city and TPUDC will facilitate several public events throughout the project, which is expected to conclude with the adoption of the new ordinance in early 2020. Additional meetings with the public and stakeholders will take place over the next few months, including a public open house on Thursday, Aug. 15, from 5-8 p.m. at Franklin City Hall. The open oouse will provide the public with an opportunity to review the zoning ordinance update with city staff and the consultants, and to provide additional feedback on the draft.

In addition to viewing the draft zoning ordinance online, citizens can see paper copies of the plan at the Department of Planning and Sustainability.