Franklin hearing sets July review after inspection, boarding agreement for 555 Hurricane

On May 21, 2025, at an unsafe-building hearing, the City of Franklin’s hearing officer and building officials agreed with the property owner at 555 Hurricane that the windows would be boarded pending full repairs and that an interior inspection would occur by agreement, with the case set for review on July 16, 2025.

The agreement follows an update from Clay Folkerson, building official with the Department of Planning and Engineering for the City of Franklin, who told the hearing the owner had been given extra time to install windows or board them and obtain an inspection. Folkerson said, "If you are interested in doing the inspection this afternoon, we can make that work."

Homeowner Steven L. Cox told the hearing he had made some clean-up work inside the building and pulled a remodel permit. "I finally got it cleaned up a little bit where they could walk through there," Cox said, adding that he was waiting on contractors for window work and had left messages for them. Cox said he planned to board the windows within about a week.

The hearing officer summarized the parties’ agreement: an inspection would occur by agreement that afternoon, the owner would board the windows pending full repairs, and the tribunal would continue the matter for review at a July 16, 2025, 2 p.m. hearing. The officer said, "we will show that, that, on a prompt basis, the windows will be, boarded pending, full repairs."

The building official said that if the inspection confirmed the interior work was completed and the windows were secured, the case could be removed from the city’s unsafe-building docket. If issues remained, the matter will return to the hearing on the July date.

The hearing record shows no formal vote; the items were continued by the hearing officer’s order and by agreement of the parties. The inspection, boarding of windows and the July 16 review are the next steps on the case.