Introduction
Franklin’s landscape and land use patterns - marked by expansive open space and natural resources, along with an abundance of historic properties and a picturesque historic Town Center – reflect the community’s agricultural history and quintessential New England character. Over the years, increased development has impacted the characteristics of what was once a rural farming community. While many of the picturesque farmlands have been developed into sprawling residential subdivisions, the Town has been able to maintain its small-town charm while growing as a prominent business, commercial and industrial area along the I-495/MetroWest Corridor.
The downtown commercial district and outlying business and industrial districts create pocket urban areas that connect to rural feeling residential neighborhoods, agricultural lands, and forests. The mixed-use commercial area and business districts include retail, single and multi-family residential mixes, schools, parks and Recreation Areas, a college campus and two train stations. The industrial areas in Franklin include industrial, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, research and development facilities and office space. Many of Franklin’s new houses are located within large subdivisions, but there are still many older homes located on rural scenic roadways that have views of pastures and agricultural lands still in production.
The Land Use section of a master plan is intended to delineate the opportunities and challenges that will shape all future development goals. As such, this section will examine both Franklin’s past and potential future: the past, by examining historic development patterns and the current layout that these patterns have created; and the future, by analyzing the Town’s zoning regulations, which govern the type of development that can currently take place.
Existing Conditions and Trends
LAND USE PATTERNS AND TRENDS
Development and land use in Franklin have changed drastically throughout the Town’s 363-year history but have followed clear patterns still visible in its landscape today. The axes along which development has occurred in town are the traditional Town Center, dating back to Franklin’s founding, and the system of highways that crisscross the landscape, opened in the twentieth century.
Originally settled in 1660, Franklin was officially incorporated in 1778 and was primarily an agrarian community. The access to waterpower initially, and to railroads later, led to the development of mills and other industry in town. As industrial development grew in the 18th and 19th century, so did the Town’s population, mostly in the Downtown and Unionville areas and along long-established roadways. Residential growth initially occurred adjacent to the industrial and commercial growth, but now occurs in all parts of Town (see Map 6.1 Age of Housing Stock).
Between 1900 and 1950, the Town’s growth was relatively slow but steady, with no ten-year period having a population increase of over 1,000 residents. During this period, manufacturing continued and began to diversify. After World War II, the development patterns began to change; a greater percentage of residents owned cars, and single-family homes were being constructed 31 percent to 10,530 residents.
With construction of Interstate 495 and its two Franklin exits, development patterns continued to change. Residential growth began to boom in the 1960s and substantial areas of undeveloped land were turned into residential subdivisions. The construction of the subdivisions encroached on many of the scenic areas of Franklin, leaving residents to be fearful of over development. As a result, in 1987, the Town enacted an Open Space Development Bylaw to promote preservation of Open Space in subdivision development.
Interstate 495 positioned Franklin as a major regional distribution center for goods and as a regional employment center. In the 1980’s, the Town rezoned former farmlands lying immediately outside Interstate 495 for industrial uses. Since that time, the Town has rezoned additional residential property to industrial several times. In the late 1980’s, the Town established itself as a regional transportation hub by lobbying successfully for an extension of commuter rail to an Interstate 495 terminus in Franklin, and for major improvements to State Route 140 connecting the Town’s extensive commercial areas. Franklin has had a steady increase in commercial and industrial development since 1980.
The 1997 Master Plan also responded to this rapid growth by establishing three goals relating to industrial and commercial zoning, reducing residential build out, and maintaining Franklin’s New England character. Towards these ends, the plan set a target growth rate of no more than 100 building permits per year.
Additionally, Franklin adopted a Growth Management Bylaw in October 1997 which was designed to guide development to minimize excessive demands on the Town’s infrastructure and services including fire protection, water, sewer, schools, transportation, recreation, and police protection; however, this Bylaw expired in June of 2009. During the past few decades, Franklin has seen a substantial reduction in the number of large subdivisions being constructed due in part to a poor economic climate and fewer large parcels of undeveloped land.
The 2013 Master Plan introduced six goals to attain fuller, more efficient development while protecting natural resources and the New England, small town character of Franklin. There have been several amendments to the Zoning Ordinance since 2013 that can be traced to these goals outlined in this plan, but many of the recommendations are as valid in 2023 as they were a decade ago.
Recent work by the Town has focused on promoting mixed use development and encouraging expansion, retention, and attraction of business. A Market Study completed by MAPC in 2020 offered recommendations to attract business activity and concentrate development in the existing economic corridors of Franklin Center, The Crossing, and the Mixed Business Innovation District (see the Economic Development section for further discussion). Franklin created a Business Guide based on MAPC’s recommendations.
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