FHS basketball teams top Attleboro

From Hockomock Sports we share the results of Franklin's basketball games on Friday.

Boys Basketball

Attleboro, 39 @ Franklin, 62 - Final - Senior Markus Bohmiller dropped a career-high 23 points for the Panthers while classmate Marcus Giese added 13 points.

Find all the results from Friday's Hockomock League action here
http://www.hockomocksports.com/blog/hockomock-schedule-scoreboard-012315

Jillian Spolidoro (20) scored a game-high 21 points and the Franklin defense limited Attleboro to just 39 points, despite 15 from Sarah Deyo (32). (Josh Perry/HockomockSports.com)

Josh Perry, HockomockSports.com Managing Editor, attended the girls game against Attleboro and provides a complete write up.

Girls Basketball

In the first meeting between Attleboro and Franklin this season, the Panthers matched up with man-to-man defense and pulled out an 11-point victory. On the road looking for the season sweep of its Kelley-Rex rivals, Franklin changed things up and went to a 1-2-2 zone. 

The Panthers used their speed and length to disrupt the Bombardiers offense, while constantly rotating to Attleboro’s two leading scorers Emily Houle and Sarah Deyo. In the first half, the duo was held to just nine combined points as Attleboro managed only 13 as a team. It was a hole from which the Bombardiers could not escape. 

Senior Jillian Spolidoro knocked down a handful of three-pointers on her way to a game-high 21 points and senior point guard Julianne Pisani had eight of the Panthers 14 steals, as Franklin, which never trailed, pulled out a 56-39 road victory.

Continue reading the remainder of the article here
http://www.hockomocksports.com/blog/panthers-stifle-bombardiers-and-sweep-season-series

“more bites at the apple”

The Milford Daily News gets around to the Pond St zoning discussion from Wednesday's Town Council meeting:

Now that a controversial zoning change for a Pond Street parcel has passed, town officials can begin efforts to sell the land. 

The amendment to an existing zoning bylaw adds residential uses at the property, located off Interstate 495, in addition to the hotels and office buildings that were already allowed. 

One of the questions town officials will consider as they draft a request for proposals will be what style of housing – and how many units – to permit.

Read the full article in the Milford Daily News here: http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20150124/NEWS/150127787/1994/NEWS#sthash.7W40vS4v.dpuf

Note: From the Franklin Matters soapbox, you can wait for the newspaper to cover the news or you can subscribe to recieve a free daily email with what matters in Franklin. Why wait for this on Saturday when you could have had it on Thursday (or Wednesday night as it happened!). 

You can subscribe here.   http://www.franklinmatters.org/p/welcome.html
It is a two step process, enter your email address, and then respond to confirm your email address.  


Wednesday night's post
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/01/live-reporting-legislation.html

Wednesday night's summary
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2015/01/150-emmons-st-sold-pond-st-parcel-re.html

Snow, what snow? There's pancakes!

From BFCCPS:

The organizers of the Pancake Breakfast wants everyone to know that the event is still on tomorrow (Saturday) from 8am to noon. 

The cost is $5 per person with a $20 per family maximum. 

The event will be held at the Franklin Elks which is located at 1077 Pond Street.

Pancake Breakfast still on  today 8;00 to noon

This notice was shared from the BFCCPS page here
http://bfccps.org/event/pancake-breakfast-for-8th-grade-trip-to-washington-dc/

Peter Yarrow concert rescheduled to March 28

From the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse:

Due to the storm the

PETER YARROW

concert has been rescheduled to March 28

Peter Yarrow

Note: If you haven't been to the Circle of Friends for a concert, you are missing a real opportunity. The hall is accoustically great for the music. The deserts are all 'diet friendly' (they are soo good, they can't count against calories) (not really, but as home made goods, they are delicious!)

For other concerts on the Circle of Friends Coffeehouse schedule check here
http://circlefolk.org/sched.html

Gas pains in Massachusetts- The Climate Minute Podcast

In this week's edition of the Climate Minute podcast, they focus on what is happening in MA

The town of Wilmington rejects the pipeline. 

A couple of heavyweights opine that Governor Baker should focus on wind.It turns out that gas pipelines in Boston are really, really leaky! 

But a company wants to put yet another one in West Roxbury near a quarry. What could go wrong? Go to the rally on Sunday.

Mass Climate Action Network

You can listen to it here or click through to the MCAN page and listen there

Upcoming Events in Franklin, MA Area: FRI 1/23/15 - THU 1/29/15

FRI 1/23   4-6pm   Open House at Franklin Children’s School
FRI 1/23   6:30pm   Art Night Uncorked at Franklin Art Center
FRI 1/23   7-10pm   Middle School Winter Dance for 5th-8th graders at Tri-County HS
FRI 1/23   8-9:50pm   Frozen Friday DJ Public Skate at Pirelli Arena

SAT 1/24   8am-12pm   Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser for BFCCPS
SAT 1/24   11am   FSPA Auditions for the Music Man (ages 8 and up)
SAT 1/24   3-5pm   Survivor Tails Adoption Event at Happy Tails Doggy Day Care

SUN 1/25   2-5pm   Franklin & Bellingham Rail Trail Committee Fundraiser at Pour Richard’s
SUN 1/25   3:30pm   LiveARTS Concert: Kevin Owen, French horn with Asako Shibata, piano

MON 1/26   5:30-7:30pm   Community Walking: FREE Walk Track at FHS

TUE 1/27   5:30-7:30pm   Community Walking: FREE Walk Halls at FHS
TUE 1/27   6:30-8pm   Ken Gloss: Value of old and rare books, Franklin Public Library

WED 1/28   12pm-6pm   Workshop Wednesday at The Cake Bar: Hearts Cupcake
WED 1/28   3:30pm   iStories at the Franklin Public Library
WED 1/28   5:30-7:30pm   Community Walking: FREE Walk Track at Franklin High School

THU 1/29   1pm   Pre-School Open House at Franklin YMCA
THU 1/29   5:30-7:30pm   Community Walking: FREE Walk Track at Franklin High School
THU 1/29   6:30pm   Genealogy Club - First Meeting - Join the Club! at the Franklin Public Library
 
For all the Town of Franklin Public Meetings click HERE.

For event details click HERE.

*If you have any suggestions or events for the calendar, please email Renata@BetterLivingRE.com

150 Emmons St sold, Pond St parcel re-zoned

One building sold, another parcel moving along the sale process, more money was added to the Legal budget and Franklin agreed to join with Bellingham and Hopedale in a community building grant application.

Emmons St

After so much to do in the Town Council meeting around the proposal for the 150 Emmons St building, the actual pair of resolutions to make the land available and then to authorize the sale agreement were conducted with little fanfare and no audience participation. There was a substantial audience but they were awaiting the next action item, the re-zoning of the Pond St property.

Attorney Cornetta representing the purchaser was present and left the meeting after both resolutions passed by 8-0 votes with one Councilor recusing himself (Kelly). Members of the Franklin Downtown Partnership, which had lobbied extensively against a drive through, especially if it were to be food service related were not present.

The deal to complete the sale of the property will take approx. four months to complete. In the meantime, Franklin will be looking to relocate the Recreation Dept which is the primary occupant of the current facility. 

150 Emmons St - to be a 'gateway' to Franklin

Pond St

On the re-zoning of the Pond St property, members of the neighborhood were much better prepared than for their first exposure to this at the Jan 7th meeting. They spoke at length, in detail, and raised applause on many good points. 

Ultimately, the Council did not agree to a delay on the vote but did amend the resolution to change the 2,000 sq ft requirement to 3,000. This was clearly a compromise on their part to help provide some of the restrictions that the Pond St neighbors were asking for.

Note: As an observer of many of these meetings with public sessions, it was good that the Council apparently suspended their time keeping for each speaker. Given the poor behavior of some of the Council during the Jan 7th meeting where their inappropriate comments were broadcast and recorded, this was a good move.  

For reference the "Visitor's Orientation to Meetings" can be found herehttp://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_Council/visitorsnotice.pdf 

Copies of this document are generally kept on the small table outside the door to the Council Chambers. 

Note: I also found it interesting that the Town Council did not acknowledge or apologize for their individual behavior and comments at the prior meeting. Had they done so, it could have changed the nature of the relationship. 

The Pond St propery discussion now moves to the Economic Development Committee (EDC) meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Jan 28th. It will be held in the 3rd floor training room of the Municipal Bldg beginning at 6:30 PM. With the parcel re-zoned, the RFP can be drafted to include this 'carrot' for potential developers. 

The RFP would come back to the Town Council for their approval before being advertised as available. The RFP usually would advertise for a 2-3 month period. any proposals submitted for it would first be reviewed at an EDC meeting and then brought with a recommendation to the Council for a decision. If a sale was recommended, it would follow similarly to the Emmons St property. 

The parcel would be declared surplus, an authorization for sale would be reached and eventually concluded. At such time, the developer would then begin the development process working with the Planning Board, Conservation Commission, and other bodies to obtain the necessary permits to begin.

Legal budget increased

Another $50,000 was added to the Legal budget. This line item started with about $45,000 was increased by $30,000 earlier this fiscal year. Most of this attributed to the protracted negotiations with the fire fighters union but not totally associated with it.

Community development grant

Franklin approved signing an agreement to join with Bellingham and Hopedale on this communty grant application. As reported from the Jan 7th meeting, Bellingham would be the lead community doing most of the work but Franklin would also benefit. 

What would this do for us? It would provide some grants or low interest loans for homeowners in the specified area (central Franklin) for those (if they met income requirements) to use for home improvements.

The agreement to join the application can be found on page 10 of the Council agenda here: 
http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_CouncilAgendas/2015%20Complete%20With%20Documents/012115.pdf




My full set of notes reported live during the meeting on Wednesday can be found here

• Live reporting: Closing
• Live reporting: Legislation
• Live reporting: Town Council - Jan 21, 2015