Franklin Tomorrow released the outcomes of the 2011 Vision Fair process Jan. 31 as part of its first Breakfast With the Mayors for 2012.
Franklin Tomorrow completed a Vision process of more than a year in December. The process involved hundreds of individuals working in the nine goal areas which encompass Franklin Tomorrow’s area of work — Business, Community Character, Education, Environment, Government, Growth & Development, Housing, Recreation, and Transportation.
The refocused goals and strategies to accomplish them were then taken to the public at various locations to seek their input on those which are most important to the future of Franklin.
“In an effort to reach as many people as possible, the Vision Fair went on the road, going to civic clubs, major public events, neighborhoods and office buildings to seek the input of Franklin’s citizens, which we define as those who live, work or play in Franklin.” said Kathie Moore, Franklin Tomorrow Board president. “Each participant in the Vision Fair received five dots to choose the five strategies they believed to be most important to the future of Franklin.”
Chosen by the approximately 1,000 people who participated in the Strategy Groups and Vision Fair as the top strategies were:
- Recreation: Implement the Greenway and Open Space Master Plan and Streetscape
- Environment: Encourage continued development of connected greenways for walking and bicycling
- Business: Promoting a business-friendly environment
- Transportation: Promote improved traffic signal timing, ridesharing, telecommuting, flexible work arrangements, and other transportation demand management programs
- Housing: Support efforts to eliminate barriers to the development of affordable, workforce, senior, and special-needs housing
- Growth & Development: Contextual design that embraces Franklin’s historic and natural characteristics
- Education: Facilitate support for the further development of the Williamson County Center for Higher Education on the Columbia State Community College’s Franklin Campus
- Community character: Enhance and preserve the physical character of existing neighborhoods
- Government: Improve coordination between and among government entities, schools, private utilities and their respective staffs to discuss how to better facilitate the delivery of essential services and infrastructure
“As you can see, implementation of the city’s Greenways and Open Space Master Plan and the continuation of the Streetscape projects scored as the top strategy in two of nine categories.” she said. “These same topics were addressed and finished in the top five in the categories of Business, Community Character, Growth & Development, and Transportation, showing the broad-based support by citizens for greater connectivity and alternate transportation modes.”
Franklin Mayor Ken Moore and Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson had been briefed on the outcomes and made presentations on how local government views the results and will respond. The Breakfast With the Mayors will be rebroadcast on the city’s FranklinTV channel.
Franklin Tomorrow is forming three project teams to further analyze the outcomes and continue to look for ways to make progress. The project teams will focus on Environment & Recreation; Business & Development; and Transportation. To become a member of a project team, contact Franklin Tomorrow Executive Director Mindy Tate.
“Through the work of the project teams in 2012, Franklin Tomorrow will work to further analyze the strategies for achieving the goals and seek ways to collaborate with other agencies and local governments to make progress,” Moore said. “Franklin Tomorrow will also advocate for the strategies as part of its monitoring of local government and in an effort to force progress in key areas.”