Planning commission urges BOMA to rescind recent CAO amendment after HG Hill objects

The Franklin Municipal Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen rescind a recent amendment to the Columbia Avenue (CAO) overlay of the zoning ordinance that would require a development plan approved by BOMA to secure eligibility for a three-story building with a 10-foot stepback.

Staff explained the amendment was added by BOMA after the commission and that it changes the process by which a property could obtain a three-story building in the overlay: under the BOMA amendment, the third story would be eligible only through a development-plan (rezoning) process rather than through the development-plan/site-plan process originally contemplated. John Cooper, attorney for HG Hill Realty Company, said the BOMA change was added without prior discussion with his client and that it could jeopardize a long-planned mixed-use development; he asked the commission to recommend the amendment be removed.

Commissioners debated the fairness of imposing a new rezoning requirement late in the process and considered precedent (other projects that had been through similar amendments). Several commissioners said they were unwilling to require the applicant to restart a lengthy rezoning process after complying with planning staff and the commission’s prior review. The commission voted unanimously to recommend the BOMA rescind the amendment restricting third-story eligibility to a BOMA-approved development plan; the rest of Ordinance 2025-25 was left intact.