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Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Franklin, MA: Special election flyer
The flyer with pertinent information about the special election on June 8th can be viewed here:
Downtown Beautification Day - May 22
All residents are welcome to pull on their gardening gloves and bring their tools to help plant more than 1,200 plants during Franklin’s seventh annual Beautification Day on Saturday, May 22, from 9:00 a.m. to Noon. The event will take place rain or shine.
The Franklin Downtown Partnership, together with the Franklin Garden Club and Wadsworth Farm, is again organizing the plantings for the bridge and the islands downtown. Volunteers are asked to meet at 9:00 a.m. on the center island in downtown. High school students who need community service hours are welcome to participate.
“This is our seventh year beautifying the downtown and it’s become a passion for all involved,” says Eileen Mason, Beautification Day chairperson. “We want to make a strong, positive impression on all those who visit Franklin in hopes that they may someday come back to shop, eat and relax in our wonderfully revitalized downtown community.
“We also do this to soften and minimize the ‘concrete look’ in the center of town,” adds Mason. “All this is accomplished solely through sponsorships, donations and 100 percent volunteer hours. We need everyone’s participation.”
The color scheme for this year’s plantings is pinks and blues, including Rose and Purple Wave Petunias, Blue Annabelle Lobelia, Persian Shield, Diamond Frost, and blue, white and pink Salvia.
According to Mason, the downtown beautification effort follows a year-long cycle. This spring’s plants were chosen last November, and then planted in the Wadsworth Farm greenhouses in March in order to be ready for planting this May. In October, beautification volunteers remove the plants and prepare for winter, placing evergreen decorations in containers the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
“Although we plant in May, this is a year-round project. Sponsorships and donations are what keep this effort going,” says Mason.
Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Gold and platinum-level sponsors will have their names prominently displayed on a sign in the center island for the 2010 season. Silver sponsors will have their name displayed on a group sign in the center island for the remainder of the year.
All contributions to the Franklin Downtown Partnership, a non-profit organization, are tax deductible. Please make checks payable to: Franklin Downtown Partnership, P.O. Box 413, Franklin, MA, 02038. For more information about the Partnership and becoming a member, contact Executive Director Lisa Piana at (774) 571-3109 or downtown.franklin@yahoo.com.
Franklin, MA
Monday, May 17, 2010
Live reporting - Franklin Market (Price Chopper)
Planning Board
Halligan recused for the hearing on the Franklin Market, 485 East Central St.
John Carroll, the associate Planning Board member has been activated for this hearing/decision.
The shuffling of the large plan drawings are irritating to the ears on the broadcast
There would be a single building with a proposed 307 parking spots, less than the requirement already approved. The prior plan was for multiple businesses in a smaller foot print.
Went before the Conservation Commission on May 13th, doing a site walk through on 5/18 and then coming back before the Conservation Commission on May 27th.
Design Review submission planned to get on the agenda for the June 8th meeting
A good deal of additional information required for submission
Zoning Board of Appeals would be involved later as the plans finalized to cover the removal of the stone.
MASSHighway will be involved as there is a proposed light at the intersection of 140 and the access road.
The applicant plans to have a dedicated left turn lane from 140 into Chestnut Ridge, as well as a dedicated right turn lane from the other direction on 140 into the Chestnut Ridge. The section along 140 would be widened to allow for the turning lanes and maintaining sidewalks.
Store is proposed for a 24 hour operation. Most of the shelf stocking would be done during the off hours but there would be staff to handle purchases of the few around the clock.
The building height would bring the roof equal to the ledge existing. The roof would contain air conditioner units and while screened and muffled for sound would clearly be visible.
The loading dock and dumpsters would be positioned along the East Central side of the building.
There are wetlands and sewer issues to be handled.
The unit would be operated as a Price Chopper in the proposed 61,000 sq. ft. building.
Several residents spoke of concerns about the blasting required to bring the wall back another 50 ft.
Bryan Taberner spoke to address some of the concerns expressed by the residents.
Beth Dahlstrom addressed the special permit requirements which is the one area where the Planning Board will have some leeway to address the concerns on the quality of life, etc.
LEED - Leadership in Energy and Efficient Design More on LEED can be found here.
One resident was calling for a "master plan". There is a master plan and it is being updated this year.
Beth Dalhstrom also reminded the audience that the plans as submitted by the applicant are available for review by all the residents in the Planning Dept. There is also a public copy available in the Council Chambers for reference during the meeting.
June 8th - Design review
June 21st - continue public hearing at 7:15 PM
Franklin, MA
Halligan recused for the hearing on the Franklin Market, 485 East Central St.
John Carroll, the associate Planning Board member has been activated for this hearing/decision.
The shuffling of the large plan drawings are irritating to the ears on the broadcast
There would be a single building with a proposed 307 parking spots, less than the requirement already approved. The prior plan was for multiple businesses in a smaller foot print.
Went before the Conservation Commission on May 13th, doing a site walk through on 5/18 and then coming back before the Conservation Commission on May 27th.
Design Review submission planned to get on the agenda for the June 8th meeting
A good deal of additional information required for submission
Zoning Board of Appeals would be involved later as the plans finalized to cover the removal of the stone.
MASSHighway will be involved as there is a proposed light at the intersection of 140 and the access road.
The applicant plans to have a dedicated left turn lane from 140 into Chestnut Ridge, as well as a dedicated right turn lane from the other direction on 140 into the Chestnut Ridge. The section along 140 would be widened to allow for the turning lanes and maintaining sidewalks.
Store is proposed for a 24 hour operation. Most of the shelf stocking would be done during the off hours but there would be staff to handle purchases of the few around the clock.
The building height would bring the roof equal to the ledge existing. The roof would contain air conditioner units and while screened and muffled for sound would clearly be visible.
The loading dock and dumpsters would be positioned along the East Central side of the building.
There are wetlands and sewer issues to be handled.
The unit would be operated as a Price Chopper in the proposed 61,000 sq. ft. building.
Several residents spoke of concerns about the blasting required to bring the wall back another 50 ft.
Bryan Taberner spoke to address some of the concerns expressed by the residents.
Beth Dahlstrom addressed the special permit requirements which is the one area where the Planning Board will have some leeway to address the concerns on the quality of life, etc.
LEED - Leadership in Energy and Efficient Design More on LEED can be found here.
One resident was calling for a "master plan". There is a master plan and it is being updated this year.
Beth Dalhstrom also reminded the audience that the plans as submitted by the applicant are available for review by all the residents in the Planning Dept. There is also a public copy available in the Council Chambers for reference during the meeting.
June 8th - Design review
June 21st - continue public hearing at 7:15 PM
Franklin, MA
EPA Storm water proposal information
The handout provided to the attendees for the EPA Informational Forum on the new storm water regulation meeting held Wednesday, May 12th at Tr-County Reg Voc Tech can be viewed here:
Note: Email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the document.
Franklin, MA
Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io
Note: Email subscribers will need to click through to Franklin Matters to view the document.
Franklin, MA
Franklin MA Holds Steady
While the town of Franklin, Massachusetts has not escaped financial struggles just like most metro west of Boston towns, it appears to have really held its own on the housing front. Homes in Franklin have only marginally lost value during this recession compared to other surrounding towns and informed buyers still seem to choose Franklin over other towns due to a variety of reasons. Most cite the easy commute to highways including Routes 495, 95 and the Mass. Pike. Others focus on the strong school system or the commuter rail service with two Franklin stops. Many agree that the lower property taxes and a wealth of services were contributing factors in their decision.
A 9 month review of five area towns from the Multiple Listing Service reveals the following data:
| Community | Within 2% of SP | Avg SP | # Homes |
| Franklin | 98% | $403,410 | 180 |
| Wrentham | 96% | $413,992 | 65 |
| Bellingham | 97% | $279,942 | 109 |
| Milford | 96% | $272,015 | 117 |
| Medway | 96% | $362,435 | 88 |
Note: SP is "Selling Price"
This data is all very interesting and although someone would expect that the lower priced towns would attract more buyers, it is clear that the town and what it has to offer make all the difference. Franklin posted higher priced average sales over the past 9 months but had 180 homes sold!
Franklin, MA remains a great value and presently homes are selling rather quickly with at least 3 homes over the past few weeks selling during their first day on the market. If you have questions about the local real estate market, please feel free to email or call me at 508-369-5131. For more resources and information, check out my website.
Authored by: Kathy Stankard, of The Kelly & Colombo Group at RE/MAX Executive Realty.
FM #68 - Week Ending 5/16/10
Let's take about ten minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as the week ends May 16, 2010.
Time: 9 minutes, 22 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast
Number 68 in the series for Franklin Matters.
Let's take about 10 minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as this week comes to a close on Sunday May 16th.
In this session I'll cover last of the budget hearings by the Finance Committee on Monday, the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, the Downtown Revitalization Project on Wednesday, the open house at the DPW and the opening of the Historical Museum. To close, I'll do a brief outlook at the week ahead.
Beginning with the Finance Committee. They completed their set of budget hearings for fiscal year 2011. The hearings provided a detailed discussion with each department head on their budget needs. One significant outcome from the meeting was an endorsement by the FINCOM of the upcoming override. The committee voted 8-0 to recommend the override. These folks, volunteers as are other Town boards, are closest to the budget and inner workings of the Town.
The details are available
May 4th http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/finance-committee-050410.html
May 6th http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/finance-committee-050610.html
May 10th http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/finance-committee-051010.html
From the school committee meeting, the update on the dept of elementary and secondary education (DESE) visit that occurred in Dec 2009 was the most noteworthy. This visit effectively reviewed the civil rights, English language learners, and special education programs of the district. On a four point scale: commendable, implemented, partially implemented or not implemented; Franklin had 9 items in the partially implemented category and that was the focal point of the presentation. Many of these items had been discussed previously as a result of the research into the district scores from MCAS exams. Now as a result of DESE visit, there is a formal action plan being put together to address the findings. One visible effect that you can see is the new capability to translate a page on the Schools website to another language.
http://www.franklin.ma.us/auto/schools/FPS/default.htm
With so much happening last week, I realized I did not get a copy of the presentation document itself to post and that should be available shortly. Updated: the presentation can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/coordinated-program-review.html
The other note worthy item from the meeting was the decision not to enable School choice for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year. This keeps the 39 students we currently service in the district in place but does not expand to any others due to the possible class size increases if the override fails to pass. The real negative for this decision is the revenue lost from school choice. The revenue from school choice is a real plus to the district to fill in otherwise under utilized capacity within the class rooms in the district. In days where revenue is looked for, this would really be nice to have. At one point, the district received revenue from 70 students in the school choice program, that has declined to the current total of 39
The full set of notes from the meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/school-committee-051110.html
The Downtown Improvement or Revitalization Project was reviewed by Bryan Taberner and the architects in a good working session on Wednesday. The meeting was broadcast and available for viewing here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/downtown-improvement-project-live.html
The DPW held their annual open house on Saturday. At the same time, the Library held it's annual book sale, Good crowds took advantage of the great weather to explore the trucks and equipment in the DPW yard as well as peruse the books for sale.
A write up on the event including pictures is available here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/tooting-horn-for-books-family-day-in.html
The Historical Museum opened this weekend. A long time in planning and lots of sweat finally came to fruition. Having personally volunteered to move items from the old Washington St location to the former Town Hall downtown, it was really nice to see the finished work.
This is a great example of the low cost approach that Franklin has taken to produce a high quality product. Donations of material (TJ Maxx – display cases), school projects (Tri-County – library shelving and display cases), volunteer help (for the move, cataloging and on-going operational support), helped to make the money the Town spent much more effective.
Additional information and pictures of the new museum can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/franklin-ma-history-on-display.html
Other items of note:
Ed Cafasso published another in his series of informational newsletters
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/letter-from-ed-cafasso.html
The EPA held a public informational meeting on the proposed storm water regulations on Wednesday. It was broadcast by the Franklin Cable group but has not yet been posted for review via the on-demand video. I do have the handout from the meeting to share at this time.
I recommend that you take advantage of the discussion opportunities as we approach the special election on June 8th. Members of the Town Council, School and Finance Committees will be available to answer questions about the budget for fiscal year 2011 and the proposal to raise an additional $3 million dollars to maintain our current services.
If you would like to discuss the budget details with me, please feel free to reach out and ask. I will make time to meet with you.
As we take a look ahead on this week's schedule.
Monday, the Planning Board opens a hearing on the new market proposal for 485 East Central St. What has commonly been seen as the rock pile.
Wednesday, the Town Council meets – agenda available
Franklin Town Budget Informational Forum sponsored by Sullivan, Keller & Davis Thayer PCC at Keller/Sullivan Middle School 7:00 PM
Franklin Town Budget Informational Forum sponsored by HMMS, Oak, ECDC, FHS PCC at Horace Mann/Thomas Mercer Auditorium 7:00 PM
What will you do this week?
As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don’t like something, please tell me
Thank you for listening!
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to listen to the audio recording
Time: 9 minutes, 22 seconds
MP3 File
Session Notes:
This internet radio show or podcast
Number 68 in the series for Franklin Matters.
Let's take about 10 minutes to review what matters in Franklin, MA as this week comes to a close on Sunday May 16th.
In this session I'll cover last of the budget hearings by the Finance Committee on Monday, the School Committee meeting on Tuesday, the Downtown Revitalization Project on Wednesday, the open house at the DPW and the opening of the Historical Museum. To close, I'll do a brief outlook at the week ahead.
Beginning with the Finance Committee. They completed their set of budget hearings for fiscal year 2011. The hearings provided a detailed discussion with each department head on their budget needs. One significant outcome from the meeting was an endorsement by the FINCOM of the upcoming override. The committee voted 8-0 to recommend the override. These folks, volunteers as are other Town boards, are closest to the budget and inner workings of the Town.
The details are available
May 4th http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/finance-committee-050410.html
May 6th http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/finance-committee-050610.html
May 10th http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/finance-committee-051010.html
From the school committee meeting, the update on the dept of elementary and secondary education (DESE) visit that occurred in Dec 2009 was the most noteworthy. This visit effectively reviewed the civil rights, English language learners, and special education programs of the district. On a four point scale: commendable, implemented, partially implemented or not implemented; Franklin had 9 items in the partially implemented category and that was the focal point of the presentation. Many of these items had been discussed previously as a result of the research into the district scores from MCAS exams. Now as a result of DESE visit, there is a formal action plan being put together to address the findings. One visible effect that you can see is the new capability to translate a page on the Schools website to another language.
http://www.franklin.ma.us/auto/schools/FPS/default.htm
With so much happening last week, I realized I did not get a copy of the presentation document itself to post and that should be available shortly. Updated: the presentation can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/coordinated-program-review.html
The other note worthy item from the meeting was the decision not to enable School choice for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year. This keeps the 39 students we currently service in the district in place but does not expand to any others due to the possible class size increases if the override fails to pass. The real negative for this decision is the revenue lost from school choice. The revenue from school choice is a real plus to the district to fill in otherwise under utilized capacity within the class rooms in the district. In days where revenue is looked for, this would really be nice to have. At one point, the district received revenue from 70 students in the school choice program, that has declined to the current total of 39
The full set of notes from the meeting can be found here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/school-committee-051110.html
The Downtown Improvement or Revitalization Project was reviewed by Bryan Taberner and the architects in a good working session on Wednesday. The meeting was broadcast and available for viewing here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/downtown-improvement-project-live.html
The DPW held their annual open house on Saturday. At the same time, the Library held it's annual book sale, Good crowds took advantage of the great weather to explore the trucks and equipment in the DPW yard as well as peruse the books for sale.
A write up on the event including pictures is available here
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/tooting-horn-for-books-family-day-in.html
The Historical Museum opened this weekend. A long time in planning and lots of sweat finally came to fruition. Having personally volunteered to move items from the old Washington St location to the former Town Hall downtown, it was really nice to see the finished work.
This is a great example of the low cost approach that Franklin has taken to produce a high quality product. Donations of material (TJ Maxx – display cases), school projects (Tri-County – library shelving and display cases), volunteer help (for the move, cataloging and on-going operational support), helped to make the money the Town spent much more effective.
Additional information and pictures of the new museum can be found here:
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/franklin-ma-history-on-display.html
Other items of note:
Ed Cafasso published another in his series of informational newsletters
http://franklinmatters.blogspot.com/2010/05/letter-from-ed-cafasso.html
The EPA held a public informational meeting on the proposed storm water regulations on Wednesday. It was broadcast by the Franklin Cable group but has not yet been posted for review via the on-demand video. I do have the handout from the meeting to share at this time.
I recommend that you take advantage of the discussion opportunities as we approach the special election on June 8th. Members of the Town Council, School and Finance Committees will be available to answer questions about the budget for fiscal year 2011 and the proposal to raise an additional $3 million dollars to maintain our current services.
If you would like to discuss the budget details with me, please feel free to reach out and ask. I will make time to meet with you.
As we take a look ahead on this week's schedule.
Monday, the Planning Board opens a hearing on the new market proposal for 485 East Central St. What has commonly been seen as the rock pile.
Wednesday, the Town Council meets – agenda available
Franklin Town Budget Informational Forum sponsored by Sullivan, Keller & Davis Thayer PCC at Keller/Sullivan Middle School 7:00 PM
Franklin Town Budget Informational Forum sponsored by HMMS, Oak, ECDC, FHS PCC at Horace Mann/Thomas Mercer Auditorium 7:00 PM
What will you do this week?
As I close this session this week, let me remind you that
If you like what I am doing here, please tell your friends and neighbors
If you don’t like something, please tell me
Thank you for listening!
For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.blogspot.com/
If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com
The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana" c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission
I hope you enjoy!
Note: email subscribers will need to click through to listen to the audio recording
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