Commission provisionally backs HHO boundary change at 354 Franklin Road with staff caveats

The Franklin Historic Zoning Commission on Jan. 12 voted to forward a preliminary recommendation to the Franklin Municipal Planning Commission and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to adjust the Hillside/Hillcrest Overlay (HHO) boundary at 354 Franklin Road, moving roughly 7.05 acres out of the overlay to follow an existing tree line.

Staff explained the HHO is intended to protect hillsides, steep slopes and viewsheds for major thoroughfares and that the HHO boundaries are established using elevation contours, slope analysis, and viewshed studies. The applicant requested the change after an Envision Franklin amendment and on-site analysis identified areas that staff and the applicant agreed had been previously disturbed (sports fields, a barn) and that a tree line better defined the base of the hill in some places.

Greg Gamble, representing the applicant, and Drake Reeder (Gamble Design Collaborative) emphasized the request is an early procedural step and does not change zoning or Envision Franklin policy on the site; they said any future rezoning, development plan or change to permitted building heights would return to the commission for review and any COA/site-plan approvals would be considered later. Staff and commissioners discussed constraints including floodplain, CSX easement and scenic-corridor offsets, and stressed that 50% open-space requirements for rural-reserve policy remain in place.

After conversations about the sensitivity of HHO protections and the difficulty of originally establishing the overlay line, the commission voted in favor of a preliminary recommendation with staff caveats that future development must not increase visibility from Franklin Road or nearby historic resources beyond what the viewshed study shows. The commission’s vote was recorded by voice; individual roll-call totals were not provided in the transcript.