Just a few weeks ago, the Frankfort/Franklin County Joint Planning and Zoning Commission (Planning Commission) voted six to three against rezoning nearly 100 acres of land owned by Mr. Ron Tierney from Agricultural to Industrial. The property is located at 690 Duncan Road. The Franklin County Fiscal Court’s planning staff had previously recommended a zone change to Industrial due to the subject property’s proximity to the surrounding industrial land and its designation within our existing Comprehensive Land Use Map as a future employment center. The six appointed members of the Planning Commission voting against the zone change request include Bill May, Brent Sweger, Paul Looney, Tim Luscher, Darrell Sanderson, and Patti Cross. Some of these folks have extensive experience serving on our Planning Commission, and some have a long record of being roadblocks to economic progress and growth in our community over the past 30 years. Some members are personal and professional friends of mine. I’m very fond of many of them as individuals. My comments here refer to their approach and decision making as Planning Commission members.
Without exception, all 11 appointed members of the Planning Commission have an important role in Franklin County’s future. Their analysis and recommendations on how to move forward with large scale development projects have real consequences for the future of our community. In particular, the Planning Commission’s decision to deny Mr. Tierney’s zone change request was not well thought out and negatively impacts our tax base. There are many reasons I disagree with their denial, but the most obvious ones include the fact that the property had already been identified for decades in our comprehensive land use maps as a future employment center, and it is surrounded by existing industrial land on three sides. Now, the Planning Commission’s recommendation to deny the zone change goes to the Franklin County Fiscal Court for a vote to either accept the Planning Commission’s recommendation to deny the zone change or request a transcript of the Planning Commission’s hearing and come up with their own findings to approve or deny the request. I’ll remind you that the same Fiscal Court voted 4-3 to deny Mr. Tierney’s zone change request on the same property in 2020. Magistrates who voted to deny the zone change two years ago include Scotty Tracy, Marti Booth, JW Blackburn, and Mike Mueller – the same Mike Mueller that’s been touting that he’s going to do everything he can to grow jobs, and that he’s capable of leading our community with improved economic development over the next several years. But there’s a big gap between what Mr. Mueller says and what he does when he votes on important issues like this one.
The citizens of Franklin County should know about the lost opportunities caused by the recent Planning Commission decision to deny Mr. Tierney’s zone change request. Without the zone change, Franklin County has no other available tracts of land large enough for industrial use that allow us to compete for large capital investments and a significant number of new jobs. Before the zone change was denied, local and state economic development agencies were actively pursuing at least six prospective companies and competing for the following estimated contributions to our community:
1. 700 new jobs and $260 million in capital investment
2. 500 new jobs and $1 billion in capital investment
3. 400 new jobs and $500 million in capital investment
4. 200 new jobs and $36 million in capital investment
5. 90 new jobs and $14 million in capital investment
6. 50 new jobs and $14 million in capital investment
Upon learning that the property would not be rezoned for industrial use, those organizations were no longer considering Franklin County. In essence, this Planning Commission decision confirmed that Franklin County is not interested in job growth and investment. While not all six companies could have been accommodated on this 100-acre tract of land, it’s safe to say that we turned down over 1000 new jobs and approximately $1.8 billion in investments into our community. A conservative estimate of real estate, tangible property, and payroll taxes collected by our local taxing authorities would have been $13 to $15 million ANNUALLY.
I hope you remember this information the next time you read about someone being appointed to our Planning Commission or one of these same people knock on your door asking for your vote claiming that he or she supports growth and opportunity in our community. Somehow, these same politicians continue to demonstrate their inability to add two and two together to come up with four.
Rodney Williams
Member, D.I.G. Frankfort
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