Franklin asks Warren County commissioners for $5.4 million bonding capacity to spur 282-unit Shaker Farms development

City Manager Jake Westorf of Franklin told the Warren County Board of Commissioners that the Shaker Farms residential development requires about $5.4 million in bonding capacity and roughly $20 million in infrastructure before building can begin. The project, Westorf said, is a 100-acre annexed tract planned for 282 housing units, including 40 townhomes, and targets higher-priced homes in the $350,000–$500,000 range.

Westorf said Franklin is largely built out for residential lots and that the city lacks the internal financial capacity to extend water, sewer and other utilities to the site. "Without these tools," Westorf said, "ultimately, this project was not gonna happen." He said the developer needed $5.4 million in binding capacity and that the city chose a 75% Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) structure to provide that capacity.

The city manager presented three broad options to the commissioners: do nothing (he described as "option 0," in which the project would not proceed), a no-CRA option he identified as generating the most long-term school…