Master Plan - required summer reading

The public hearing on the Master Plan drew about a dozen people to the Franklin Library on Saturday. The presentation document used for the Town Council meeting on Jul 17th was the same document shared on Saturday. It provided a thorough overview of the process to develop the plan and goals/objectives of each section.

It will be important to read the document carefully. This is what will guide all the development efforts for Franklin. It should be referenced as each new proposal comes before a board/committee for consideration. Does it fit within the plan? Does it further the progress of the plan?

The SNETT trail development?
Yes - this covers recreation, sustainability, transportation (circulation), and health aspects of the plan.

The sculpture park being put together at the former town pool location?
Yes - it covers art, outdoor recreation, sustainability and maybe some others I haven't considered.

The proposal for Cook's Farm?

Maybe, it doesn't really fit the definition of the "in fill development" as explained during the meeting. 

The plan is not a budget document. It is a guideline on how we should grown to continue to be a wonderful community. Knowing what the document says about how we should prepare for the future will be as important as understanding the background, interests and agendas for any of the candidates for our municipal election this November. Those who will sit and act on behalf of our best interests will be using this document to guide their actions. We should know the details.

A copy of the Draft Plan is available online at http://town.franklin.ma.us/pages/FranklinMA_Planning/masterplandoc/doc 
at the Franklin Public Library or 
at the Department of Planning & Community Development in Franklin Municipal Building.

Public input will be utilized to formulate the final document. Comments received will be reviewed by the Master Plan Committee and incorporated into a final Master Plan document to be endorsed by the Planning Board and Town Council at meetings during the week of September 16, 2013.

The Committee has a website on the Franklin Town page at:
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_BComm/Masterplan.

It also has a presence on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/FranklinMasterPlan.


My notes from the Public Hearing can be found here:

• live reporting - Public Hearing - Master Plan (con...
• Live reporting: Public Hearing - Master Plan 2013
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St Rocco's Festival - photo essay

Saturday night was a good night to eat out. Especially with all the choices available at the Annual St Rocco Festival. What did I end up with? New England clam chowder and clam cakes went well accompanied by the Italian music. Topped off with a couple of delicious cannoli's for dessert, I was satisfied for the night!

Singer sings his song

The singer was working the crowd from the dancing area

working the crowd with dancers behind him

At least one grandpa and some kids did some dancing

colorful prizes

When the carnival show is in town, there are prizes!

did you try to catch the golden ring?

The carousel goes round and round

clear blue sky

The rides against the setting sun made for a colorful night

Pharaoh watches from the corner

The Pharaoh was still (for a bit) in the corner!

the big slide

The super slide stood out against the blue sky

how high can you go?

The crazy bus couldn't get as high as the Ferris Wheel!

a festive occasion

The whole atmosphere at the Festival was quite joyous!

Gary Sohmers - Calling All Collectors

The Franklin Public Library will host "Gary Sohmers - Calling All Collectors" on Tuesday, August 13, 2013 at 6:30 PM

Gary Sohmers - Calling All Collectors

This was initially posted to the Franklin Public Library
http://franklinpl.blogspot.com/2013/08/gary-sohmers-calling-all-collectors.html

In the News: Master Plan, St Rocco

Housing component of Franklin master plan criticized

Broad goals for the future of housing and development in town laid out in the draft master plan drew criticism Saturday at a public hearing on the document.

Familiar faces set up Feast of St. Rocco in Franklin

Peter Brunelli says it takes more than one person to plan each new day of the 35th annual Feast of St. Rocco, a popular celebration of Franklin’s Italian-American community.

live reporting - Public Hearing - Master Plan (continued)

Committee Chair Jeff Roy providing an overview with use of a PowerPoint presentation similar to that used for the Town Council meeting Jul 17, 2013

Document link here  http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/07/live-reporting-master-plan-committee.html

Chris Vericker steps in to lend a hand with the section on Housing. Chris had led the work effort by that subcommittee.

Jeff Roy resumes the presentation on Natural, Cultural and Historic resources
looking to get a performance venue in the downtown area to help draw people and provide some business opportunities

the Master Plan leveraged work by the 2008 Open Space and Recreation plan, incorporating those recommendations and adding to it

leverages the School Dept Strategic Plan within this plan. This plan is updated every 5 years.

Comments open until Aug 16th. Those submitted will be reviewed and incorporated as necessary before the Sep 18th meeting with the Town Council. The document should really be an open around a living document
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/08/this-is-going-to-be-living-document.html

I stepped up as first commenter thank the committee for their work, this was a great effort by a bunch of volunteers. I raised the use of "in fill development" what does it mean?

Beth Dahlstrom - the term is meant to refer to developing within and on existing developments rather than developing open space.

Second term for definition is "workforce housing"

Jeff Roy - answered that the term was meant to cover broad usage around affordable housing.

This lead to my recommendation to add a glossary and improve the overall accessibility of the document. You can link within the doc from the term to the glossary.

Councilor Judy Pfeffer also commented on the use of "workforce development" looking for clarification on the term. She also objected to the recommendation of "increased funding for the Schools". As a Town Councilor, their challenge is to provide equitable all Town departments and the plan should pick one over the others.

Dennis Grillo - As a developer, the key issues should be making it affordable to business in town. I am not against any of it. I am not really sold on green energy. green energy supplies about 2 % of our tax dollars on failed projects.

Chris Vericker - This is not a spending plan, this is a guideline for the Town to use in planning.

Jeff Roy - that is what this plan is all about. If we are going to grow, we have to grow smartly. They should be considering these details. one of the struggles for a community like Franklin in achieving green status, we are already doing so much in this space that we can't easily achieve this status.

Dennis Grillo - What green costs to produce and what the return is, think about the return on the dollar. Money is easy to spend. It has to make sense.

no other comments or questions so the meeting is officially closing

Live reporting: Public Hearing - Master Plan 2013

from the Franklin Public Library

presenters: Jeff Roy

Over view with presentation similar to that provided to the Town Council on July 17th

Franklin, MA: Master Plan draft for review

"this is going to be a living document"

The public hearing on the Master Plan will be held today at 10:00 AM in the meeting room at the Franklin Public Library.

"It’s the most important part of the process," state Rep. Jeffrey Roy, committee chairman, said Friday. "We’ve gotten public input along the way in bits and pieces … but I don’t think anyone has seen the project we’ve put together in one document. People may look at some of the ideas a little differently in the context of the bigger picture." 

The 172-page master plan includes overarching goals, which are presented with specific actions for how to achieve them. 

Roy said he has already fielded calls about certain sections of the document. 

"The initial reactions I’ve seen are on the housing component," he said. "Folks think there is too much emphasis and focus on workforce housing. I’m getting the sense that people think we have enough of that inventory in Franklin."

Read more: http://www.milforddailynews.com/news/x369946656/Hearing-this-morning-on-Franklin-master-plan#ixzz2bYtT3p41

Related posts on the 2013 Master Pin include links to the full plan document

http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/08/master-plan-mission-and-vision.html

http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/08/master-plan-mission-and-vision.html

Reporting from the initial presentation to the Town Council
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/07/the-master-plan-is-here-master-plan-is.html