To the Editor:
I am quite disappointed in the Franklin Plan Commission. Franklin College proposed giving the community a forward-thinking planned development, accepting responsibility for 1) bringing tomorrow’s industries to Franklin today, 2) planning affordable housing to help young people, new families, and workers that we need in our community, including Franklin graduates who have shown a propensity to love our community, and 3) right-sizing yards and houses for young families who do not need one-third acre lawns to mow or four bedrooms, as young adults are marrying later, having fewer children and need starter-sized homes.
It is especially ironic since many of us in this community lived in humble homes as we grew up, including myself. Those of us who weren’t born with silver spoons understand the need for starter homes, decent apartments, and other forms of affordable housing. Suppose communities don’t have affordable houses built in the city limits. In that case, they force workers in service industries, young families, and elderly people who are downsizing to live miles from the center of community life. I find that selfish and it makes me think people forget their backgrounds and family history.
But I do know Franklin! This is a highly desirable community, with ample investment in parks, roads and all sorts of services and retail establishments. We have lots of open land, and it should not all be turned into warehouses before we add some incubators for tech industries, and some reasonable housing for workers, young singles, young couples and elders downsizing. We have so many wonderful resources to share and many are underutilized.
I’m not sure where Lori Borgman, a columnist for the Daily Journal lives, but I appreciate her recent column. She shared her experience as a young married: “We began married life in a 1930s Craftsman bungalow with three small bedrooms …” Where are today’s young people to start their families and careers, and contribute to our community if not in a development such as the one Franklin College is proposing? In an expensive condo downtown? We need choices.
If you don’t want neighbors, build a high fence, or move out into the country where most of the new housing seems to be. But communities like Franklin do need young people, in-migrants with skills and dreams, and future students in our wonderful schools. I beg the plan commission to think again before negating the gift Franklin College is offering or before transforming it into the same-old, same-old inadequate housing.
Karen Altergott Roberts
Franklin
