Preserve our Neighborhoods. Protect our Homes, Children, Trees and Wildlife.

Are you are a Franklin Tennessee homeowner? Do you live in a gated community, on a quiet back street or a cul-de-sac? How would you feel if one day the City converted your quiet street to a main thoroughfare without ever notifying or consulting you or your neighbors? Living on a main thoroughfare places children and pets at risk, impacts the value of your property and forever changes your quality of your life.

My husband and I and his 92-year-old Mother live on Country Road, a quiet cul-de-sac off of Franklin Road just South of Moores Lane. You’ve probably driven past this tiny street for years and never noticed it was here. To we homeowners living on Country Road, this is a good thing. We’ve enjoyed this peaceful haven for several decades. Over the years I’ve enjoyed watching the deer, raccoon, rabbit and the bobcat. I’ve enjoyed the seeing the gray heron and the migrating Canadian geese land in the small pond on the neighboring property outside my back door. Each morning, the wild birds sit on our porch rail waiting to be fed as they have for the last 22 years.

I’ve witnessed the human population explosion in Williamson County. Still, I'd hoped the pristine paradise at my back door would last forever.
It surprise me when I recently discovered a church, Grace Point, was planning to build a three story building in the beautiful wide valley that adjoins the back of our property. The true horror of it didn’t hit me until I saw the building plans. They were planning to blacktop the entire valley at my back door. This was bad enough but I then learned they were planning to utilize an old county easement that sits directly between our house and Mrs. Tidwell’s house as the main entrance to their proposed 26,000 sq ft church.

In February of 1996 my husband contacted many Williamson County planners asking about the possibility of purchasing this old easement. We talked with the County Attorney, Rick Buerger, and Bob Adjent who was the Development Director for the Williamson County Planning Commission and Councilman, Newt McCord. We also consulted Robert Ring and Joe Horn whose positions with Williamson County I know longer recall. All of these gentlemen assured us there was no need to purchase the easement, as they felt certain it would never be used. The traffic noise from Franklin road was growing and we wanted a sound barrier. They encouraged us to landscape and maintain the strip of land saying, “Plant away!” The glorious row of twenty trees we planted now stands thirty feet tall. They are densely populated with birds.

Three weeks ago, a man was standing in our side yard. I asked him why he was there. I learned that he was Mr. Libovitz, the engineer for the Grace Point Church project. He was there to determine how to establish an entrance to the church on the old easement.I asked him what kind of plans had been made to save/move our trees. He said, (and I quote) “You can kiss those trees goodbye.” I recoiled at his choice of words and instantly demonized Grace Point in my mind. What kind of a church would do such a thing? They are swaggering, obtrusive, invaders with no thought of the impact they are having on our community. They intend to simply run us over.

Why isn’t this church using the Franklin Road entrance? The Franklin Road entrance has existed for 30 years or more. It was used by the Taylors for twenty years and, more recently, by the Munson’s and their 15 Foster children. No problem.

It hurt to think that the nine children who live on this quiet cul-de-sac would no longer roller blade past my home. Nor would they ride sleds down the hill at Christmas. Nope. Not with bus loads full of parishioners rolling straight towards them.

My husband and I had long been scheduled to be out of the country and didn’t arrive back home until the day before the scheduled Planning Department meeting. At the last minute, I tried to rally the neighbors on Country Road in order to protest the Grace Point Church plans that were scheduled to be approved without objection. No notices regarding the planning commission meeting had been posted on the property. None of the neighbors I spoke with had heard anything of the planning commission meeting or of the building plans before that day. The Heimmerman family had already made an unbreakable commitment to appear at an important event. Another neighbor was crunching for finals the next day. One said she would not, “go against the Church.” The neighbors who could attend, did so.

On Thursday evening, December 14, 2006, my husband and I and several Country Road neighbors attended the Franklin Planning Commission meeting. I felt nervous confronting my imagined opponant, the church, and I was bewildered by the protocol/process. Thankfully, my husband, with the guidance of a planning commission members, (Chris Ude) learned that when the Agenda number came up, it was time to stand and say, “Pardon please. We neighbors are none too pleased and we would like item number ten moved from the automatic consent agenda and placed on the Regular agenda in order that the plans may be presented for public hearing. "

There was much hubbub and yack amongst the council. A traffic analyst stood to say that he’d calculated a peak of approximately 150 cars going up and down our tiny cul-de-sac on Wednesdays and Sundays. I don't know the name of the "expert" traffic engineer who stood to speak or for whom he worked but it was clearly a deceptive as I later learned Grace Point has a present congregation of over one thousand. Two commission members, Carol Croop and Scott Harrison, opposed passing the building plans that would convert our tiny street to main thoroughfare. Even so, the planning commission passed the plans.

My husband and I were in despair as we headed out the door when a red headed stranger approached. He introduced himself saying, “I am Mark Borders, one of the pastors at Grace Point Church. I am sorry if we have caused you distress and I’ll work with you in anyway I can.”
Wow. Communication. I replied saying, “My husband and I feel the damage of this decision more than anyone else. I am bitter and outraged. Still, I cannot help but feel for you as well. On the way to the Planning Commission meeting this evening, we noticed that not a single existing church along Franklin Road had been forced to bear the cost of widening Franklin Road 50 feet in order to install a turn lane. Why is that?” (In fact, when the Legends PGA Golf Course holds tournaments, thousands of fans attend. They are rich. Yet, they have not been forced to bear the cost of building a turn lane off of Franklin Road.)

Pastor Borders explained to us that Grace Point had purchased the property with the assumption that they would be able to use the deeded access on Franklin Road as the main entrance to their church just like all of the other church along Franklin Road. Pastor Borders told us it was the City Hall planning department traffic engineers who had dictated that traffic to be routed up our tiny street. The planning department based their decision of an obscure access ordinance within the zoning ordinances 8.1 Chapter 8 saying they had no power to override the ordinance and therefore must enforce it. This ridiculous, indiscriminant, ordinance is already making our lives miserable and lowering the value of our homes. The ordinance needs to be amended immediately or a variance granted.

No planning board members live in our neighborhood. Their quality of life will not be directly affected by this decision until the next elections. Though a few board members expressed concern for the bad situation in which we’ve been placed, apparently it’s their job to enforce the letter of the law no matter how illogical or unreasonable and with no consideration for or whom it may hurt.

The City planning department’s decision will have a significant impact on the value of our home. It has also placed a heavy financial burden upon Grace Point; as they’ve demanded the developers expand both Franklin Road and the mouth of Country Road at a projected cost of around $250,000.

This is a horrible situation. Neither the homeowners on Country Road nor Grace Point want this back street entrance. The $250,000 expense now faced by Grace Point church would feed a lot of hungry children. This money could most certainly be put to better use. It is inevitable the State will widen Franklin Road to, at minimum, a three-lane road within the next year or two. It simply must happen. What then?

The county/State will bulldoze and redo all the entrances and exits off of Franklin Road. All the money Grace Point will have paid to widen Franklin Road and the entrance to Country Road will be money down the drain. Meanwhile, the quiet sanctity of Country Road will have been ruined forever.

Clear View Baptist church is a large, affluent, well established church that sits on the west side of Franklin Road. It has two entrances onto Franklin Road. Clear View Baptist’s southern property boundary aligns perfectly with the existing entrance to the Grace Point church property directly across Franklin Road. The City of Franklin has recently annexed Clear View Baptist church and has asked that they move their southern entrance over 50 yards to the north in order that it be aligned to our little dead ended street, Country Road. Why would the City want to funnel large busses and heavy traffic down our tiny dead end street when it would be a simple matter to move Clear View Baptist's southern entrance 15 feet further south. This would align Clear View Baptist's entrance directly across from Grace Point's Franklin Road entrance.

If necessary, a traffic signal that only initializes and blinks yellow on Sunday mornings could be installed over the center of Franklin road at the then aligned entrances to the two churches on either side of Franklin Road.

Please take a minute to look at a birdseye view of the churches entrances on Franklin road areas on http://tinyurl.com/y8ehwc
Mapquest aerial view. This will give you a better idea as to how simply the Church entrances can be aligned across from one another on Franklin Road.

The planning commission should exercise whatever means necessary in order that we neighbors who have lived on Country Road for decades are able to preserve our precious peace tranquility, quality of life and home values. Quaintness and serenity are the essence of Franklin.
These qualities should be honored and preserved.

Last week I telephoned planning department member
Micha Wood (615) 791-3212 x4.
He told me any opportunity for the public to address this issue had passed when the Grace Point plans were approved by the board. He said the only option left us was to sue the city. Later that day, spoke with Jaime Groce Interim Director of the City of Franklin (Phone: (615) 791-3212.)
He told us that these plans would come before the Mayor and the Board of Alderman and suggested we contact them. (The Alderman have the power to block the handing over of the backstreet easement to the developers. This would send the issue back to the planning department for a re-hearing by the general public.)

I encourage all Franklin homeowners to write our Mayor and Alderman in support of preserving our quiet street. I beg that you do this on behalf of we Country Road residents. Any time you dedicate to this cause will be beneficial to you and all Franklin citizens in the future.
If the Planning Department is allowed to get away with this, your neighborhood could be next. Don't think this can't happen to you!

MAYOR TOM MILLERPhone: (615) 791-3217Fax: (615) 790-0469
Email: mayor@franklin-gov.com

Alderman, Beverly Burger 1373 Liberty Pike Franklin, TN 37067 (615) 498-4794
Email: beverly.burger@franklin-gov.com

I pray that Grace Point Church, Clear View Baptist Church, the City of Franklin and all Franklin homeowners will take a closer look at this issue. Let us all work diligently in order to iron out these issues before it’s too late.

~ Kittra