DATE: September 24, 2015
TO: Franklin Municipal Planning Commission
FROM: Emily Hunter, Long Range Planning Supervisor
Bob Martin, Interim Director of Planning and Sustainability
Subject
title
Presentation Of Land Use Plan Amendment For McEwen Character Area, Special Area 6, To Add A Neighborhood Commercial Node Along Carothers Parkway, Between Murfreesboro Road And Long Lane. (9/24/15 FMPC 8-0)
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Project Information
The Franklin Planning and Sustainability Department is representing this Land Use Plan amendment request.
Background from the Franklin Land Use Plan (LUP)
The LUP includes guiding principles that promote a mix and balance of land uses, stating the following:
The City of Franklin desires to have a balance of land uses that promotes both fiscal health and a sense of community. While the city is first and foremost a place in which people can live and raise families, it must also provide places to educate, recreate, shop and work. These land uses should be located in such a way that they reinforce neighborhood integrity and provide convenient access to one another. Specifically:
1. The city will strive for a balance of land uses that achieves fiscal health and community livability.
2. The city will continue to emphasize single-family neighborhoods as the dominant land use, but it will not simply be a “bedroom” community for the metropolitan region. A mix of conventional and traditional neighborhoods will be encouraged; both types of neighborhoods can be appropriate forms of development. A mix of housing options, retail and service uses and employment centers will be encouraged, along with related public services and community amenities.
3. Business uses that serve the local population, such as convenience retail, grocery stores and services should be provided, and should be planned in proximity (i.e., less than a mile) to residential areas in locations that minimize negative land-use impacts on residential areas.
4. Mixed-use developments that are compatible with surrounding areas are encouraged as a way to reinforce a sense of neighborhood and to minimize vehicular trips, particularly in mixed-use centers identified in this plan.
5. In promoting a mixture of compatible uses, the city recognizes the importance of providing for orderly transitions of land uses and densities, particularly between single-family uses and smaller-lot detached or attached housing.
6. Smaller lots should not be located on the exterior of a proposed development adjacent to, or across the street from, larger lots of an existing development. However, if the applicant proposes an alternative, and if potential conflicts will be created, the applicant shall give justification as to how they will be mitigated or avoided.
Planning and Sustainability Department Comments
Within recent years, a total of 2,415 dwelling units have been approved along Carothers Parkway between Murfreesboro Road and Long Lane. As more residential development is planned and constructed along this section of Carothers Parkway, the need for nearby neighborhood commercial uses increases. The distance from the Carothers Parkway/Murfreesboro Road intersection to the Long Lane/Goose Creek Bypass is approximately 3.5 miles, more than three times the recommended distance for proximity to services specified in the LUP. Before the MECO-6 area is built out, it is recommended that a neighborhood commercial node be added in the LUP text (see language below). The scale and character of the proposed neighborhood commercial area should be similar to the commercial nodes located in Fieldstone Farms, McKays Mill, and Reid Hill Commons. If the LUP amendment request passes, the affected property owners will be contacted and rezoning to a Neighborhood Commercial (NC) District will be recommended.
Land Use Plan Amendment
MCEWEN CHARACTER AREA, SPECIAL AREA 6:
1. The character of this area is largely established.
2. New development shall reflect the same character as the established area.
3. Neighborhood commercial uses are appropriate for the three lots fronting the connector street between Carothers Parkway and South Carothers Road and for the lot located immediately to the east of these three lots on the south side of South Carothers Road.
Recommendation
recommendation
Approval.
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