Franklin approves rezoning of 13.42 acres for church campus; scenic corridor protections remain

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved Ordinance 2024-42 on Jan. 28, rezoning 13.42 acres at the southwest corner of Franklin Road and Mack Hatcher Memorial Parkway from a state residential district to civic institutional district to allow a church campus and other institutional uses.

Planning staff told the board the site sits within the Rural Reserve design concept of Envision Franklin and is along a major arterial intersection, which supports institutional use with appropriate site design. The Franklin Municipal Planning Commission recommended approval 7–0 and staff recommended that the board adopt the ordinance.

Speakers at the public hearing included representatives of Preservation Partners, downtown preservation advocates and Phil Rasmussen, executive pastor for the applicant, Belonging Church. Rasmussen said the congregation expects a roughly 50,000-square-foot facility with about 500–530 parking spaces and that traffic control will be used on Sundays to manage ingress and egress.

Staff and speakers noted the property is covered by the scenic corridor overlay that requires a 150-foot setback from the road; planning staff said the overlay preserves substantial contiguous portions of scenic viewshed but that rezoning does not, by itself, guarantee a specific amount of open space without a future site-plan review.

The ordinance passed unanimously. City staff and proponents said Preservation Partners intends to protect a significant portion of the site with permanent easement, and proponents urged the board to approve the rezoning as preferable to residential development that had earlier been proposed for the property.