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Residents urge delay as Planning Commission recommends annexation and PUD for Poplar’s Reserve
Summary
The commission recommended approval of annexation, rezoning and a 41-lot Poplar’s Reserve PUD for 22.78 acres north of Clovercroft Road, approving three modifications of standards despite public concerns about traffic, school overcrowding and neighborhood connectivity.
The Franklin Municipal Planning Commission on June 25 recommended that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen approve annexation, rezoning and a development plan for Poplar’s Reserve, a proposed 41-single-family-lot planned unit development on 22.78 acres north of Clovercroft Road.
Staff described Resolution 2026-48 as a city-drafted plan of services that anticipates providing infrastructure to the annexed property without adding personnel for fire, police or sanitation. Williamson County student projections submitted with the package estimate that at buildout the site could yield about 10 elementary, 6 middle and 4 high school students, staff said.
During the public-comment period resident Janet Curtis urged the commission to “strongly reject this proposal,” saying the development would worsen “severe school overcrowding,” create a “dangerous traffic nightmare” on Clovercroft Road and harm residents’ privacy. County Commissioner Greg Lawrence asked commissioners to postpone any vote until a county-city task force can study longer-range traffic solutions for the Clovercroft corridor, saying the county and city have been discussing fixes for years.
The applicant, represented by Greg Gamble of Landmark Investments, said the developer has completed a traffic study and will build roadway improvements, including constructing Clovercroft Road as a three-lane section, dedicating right-of-way for a future Carothers Parkway, installing a greenway trail that connects to Navarro, and preserving roughly half the site’s tree canopy and about three acres of open space. Gamble said the plan accommodates existing hillside overlays and that three family-owned lots on the east edge are not included in the Poplar’s Reserve homeowners association.
Commissioners debated three modification-of-standards requests. Staff had recommended disapproval of MOS 1 (waiver of an eastern street stub) and MOS 2 (alignment/continuation change), citing the city’s connectivity requirements; the applicant argued steep slopes, protected hilltop overlay buffer and an existing house make a standard connection impractical. MOS 1 passed on the commission floor by a recorded vote of 5–3; MOS 2 and MOS 3 (allowing a cul-de-sac at the western connection) also passed. With the modifications included, the commission voted to recommend the Poplar’s Reserve development plan and the associated rezoning and annexation to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.
The commission’s approval is a recommendation; final decisions on annexation, rezoning and the development plan will be made by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen at a later meeting.
Action taken: the commission recommended approval of Resolution 2026-48 (plan of services), Resolution 2026-47 (annexation), Ordinance 2026-17 (rezoning to PD 1.8) and Resolution 2026-52 (development plan with three approved modifications).
