Johnson County Golf Cart will open at 44 N. Jackson St. in downtown Franklin.
Waylon O’Donnell | Daily Journal
Franklin will soon be home to Johnson County’s first golf cart dealership.
The Franklin Board of Zoning Appeals unanimously approved a use variance request from John and Tracey, LLC, green-lighting the establishment of Johnson County Golf Cart, which will sell electric golf carts.
The business is opening at 44 N. Jackson St., which has housed Franklin City Hall and an arts and crafts gift shop in the past. Most recently it was used for storage, but will now undergo a renovation to include a nearly 2,500-square-foot showroom for golf carts, said Alex Getchell, senior planner.
John Hubler, principal of John and Tracey, LLC purchased the building for just under $500,000 earlier this year. Johnson County Golf Cart will be a “destination-use” business, meaning that it will largely attract people who come specifically to Franklin to purchase a golf cart, rather than impulse buyers, said Dustin Huddleston, a local attorney representing Hubler.
“This is going to be the only place in Johnson County that sells golf carts,” Huddleston said. “It’s going to be a nice, attractive amenity to the downtown area that will bring people downtown that normally they may not bring downtown.”
Huddleston emphasized the purchase was strictly done with Hubler’s dollars and he will not seek a grant from the city’s redevelopment commission or any other supporter.
Because there is no specific zoning for golf cart dealerships, planning staff evaluated the request based on the next closest zoning type — auto sales, Getchell explained. Based on that, the dealership required a use variance from the BZA to open. This is because auto sales is not an automatically permitted use in the property’s current zoning classification, Mixed-Use Downtown Center.
For the dealership, Hubler said that his focus is solely on electric golf carts, with potential plans to sell golf bags in the future. The business will not offer rentals, repairs or modifications to golf carts. He is also not interested in selling gas-powered carts at this time.
Planning staff recommended approval of the use variance under specific commitments that Hubler agreed to follow.
Hubler committed there will never be any golf carts parked, stored or displayed for any length of time outside of the building during or after business hours. The business would keep a small supply of golf carts on hand to sell, he said.
“I think that we can probably inventory about 30 golf carts inside, and I would suspect that we would probably sell 10 to 15 each month,” Hubler said.
Golf carts and golf cart-hauling trucks will only be allowed outside for the temporary loading and unloading process, which is not to exceed two hours.
Before approving the variance, BZA members asked for clarification on whether customers would be able to test drive the golf carts on city streets.
BZA and city attorney Lynn Gray said customers need to have a special license to operate golf carts in Franklin, and that there are specific roads that they are permitted to operate on. According to city code, golf cart owners must possess a valid driver’s license, must register the cart with Franklin Police Department and must have proof of insurance to drive on city streets, among other responsibilities.
“They will not be able to get those (licenses) on-site and drive the carts away,” Getchell said. “They will have to haul them away from the site.”
Hubler and Huddleston didn’t provide an opening date for Johnson County Golf Cart at the meeting.
