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 revenue, and CRA-based options. Westorf said the no-CRA option could generate about $37 million for the local school district over 30 years, while the 75% CRA the city pursued would result in roughly $27 million to the schools over 30 years and the 100% CRA option would yield about $23 million over 30 years. Westorf said only the 75% option produced the $5.4 million bonding capacity the developer required.

Westorf also said Franklin has added a new community authority (NCA) charge of 5 mills on development inside the city and that 25% of the CRA revenue not used for bonding would still go to the school district. He described the project as an effort to "get this motor started" so higher-value rooftops will attract the commercial development the city lacks: "Without rooftops, we're not going to get the commercial pieces that we need."

Westorf told commissioners the Shaker Farms site was annexed from township land and that Franklin's annexation process does not remove township representation: "We elect the fiscal officer and we elect our township trustees," he said, adding that the annexation dynamic makes good development for Franklin also beneficial to Franklin Township. He also noted the presence of about 600 acres of vacant industrial land in the city that the city hopes to activate for commercial projects.

On taxation and local revenue, Westorf said Franklin currently brings in about $12 million a year in income tax revenue to operate the city and that much of that tax is paid by nonresidents. He described the city's property tax base as comparatively low, recounted past fire-levy history and said a single mill now yields far less revenue in Franklin than in other parts of the county because of lower property valuations.

Commissioners responding to the presentation expressed surprise at Franklin's flat population over decades and interest in seeing the new project. One commissioner told Westorf, "I am stunned...that your population hasn't increased," and later said they hoped to visit the development. Commissioners gave no formal vote on the proposed CRA/TIF structure or on financing during the recorded discussion.

The meeting record contains no formal approval of the Shaker Farms financing mechanism; the only explicit formal action shown in the transcript excerpt was a motion to adjourn, which was seconded and carried. Westorf also raised a separate, nondevelopment item in passing: he said seniors receive stipends to buy produce at farmers markets and asked county managers to help encourage local markets to accept those funds.

Because the presentation involved projected long-term revenue scenarios and a mix of funding tools, Westorf emphasized the city's outreach to school officials and outside counsel: he said Franklin consulted multiple times with the school board and worked with legal and economic-development advisers from the Bricker & Eckler (Bricker Graydon) team, including Andy Brossart and Kayla Bell, to structure the proposal.

No formal decision to adopt a CRA, TIF, or bonding agreement was recorded in the transcript provided. Commissioners expressed interest in the project's progress and offered to coordinate site visits and intergovernmental support.