Smith family seeks Envision Franklin amendment to allow 1,350‑unit mixed neighborhood on 495 acres

Steve Smith, a member of the Smith family that owns the parcel, and Jeff Hines, the project planner, presented a request to amend the City of Franklin’s long‑range plan to permit a "village green" development on roughly 495 acres currently in Williamson County.

Jeff Hines, a planner with Catalyst Design Group, told attendees that the amendment would "preserve 3 32 acres of the 4 95 acres and develop 162 acres," and described a proposal for about 1,350 residences and 15,000 square feet of neighborhood‑scale commercial. Hines said the project would use a new state infrastructure development district law to finance public utilities and road improvements without using taxpayer dollars.

The Village Green designation the applicants seek differs from the site’s current county policy by requiring 70% of the site to remain as open or natural area and allowing a mix of housing types, small‑scale commercial, and institutional uses such as independent and assisted living. The applicants’ plan shows three phased "villages" (South, North, East), internal trails, and a commercial node at the intersection of North Chapel Road and Highway 96. Hines said developers paid for a 10‑foot high box culvert under Highway 96 to allow trail, golf‑cart and emergency connectivity beneath the highway.

Developers proposed utility work that includes a new lift station and a force main tying into existing city sewer capacity. Hines said that extending sewer would also open sewer capacity for a broader area if future mains are extended. He described the planned finance mechanism as a bond issued under recent state law that places assessments on future properties, saying it "allows funding of public infrastructure, and construction of that on a bond basis, but does not use any taxpayer money for that purpose." The presentation named TDOT as the agency that built Highway 96 improvements referenced by the applicants.

Residents raised questions about tree removal, flooding, schools, traffic, taxes and maintenance. In response to a question about tree clearing, Hines said new clearing would be limited, estimating "very little, I would I would throw out 10 acres to 15 acres at most." On flooding and the Maze Creek floodplain, Hines said the plan would respect the existing 100‑year floodplain and that the project would not place fill into it: "we are not adjusting the flood plain of of, Maze Creek in any way with this proposal."

Several attendees asked how school impacts would be handled; Hines said the development would take place over many years and that property taxes and development fees would begin to offset school costs as phases are platted, but he did not provide a dollar estimate. On taxes and school districts, Hines clarified that taxes from the site would go to the county school system rather than the Franklin Special School District.

On trail maintenance, Hines said: "The HOA would incur that cost unless the city of Franklin Parks were to take those over." Regarding traffic, Hines said the applicants expect traffic studies and that new traffic signals at North Chapel Road and additional intersections are likely as required by the traffic analysis.

The applicants also described a small farmstead‑style hospitality venue and a proposed 2.8‑acre parcel for a possible eastern fire station as part of the overall concept. Hines said independent or assisted living components typically need roughly 100 residential units in the surrounding area to be viable.

No formal planning decision or vote was taken at the neighborhood meeting. Hines and Smith explained next steps: city staff will review the Envision Franklin amendment and release a recommendation on June 18; the Franklin Municipal Planning Commission will hold a public hearing and formal vote on June 26 at 7:00 p.m.; if the plan amendment is adopted the project would proceed with annexation and a development plan that would trigger additional public hearings.

The applicants said they will post the meeting recording and additional materials on a project website and that they will supply more detailed acreage breakdowns and architectural imagery as the application proceeds.