Important Announcements, Dates to Note

Important FDP Reminders:

Please read all the way to the bottom so you don't miss out on important dates ...

Membership

2014 membership due APRIL 30th.

You need to have your membership paid in order to receive a free business listing in the new Franklin Brochure. Please fill out the application with your check.

Click here to download and print your 2014 FDP Membership Application.

Sponsorship

Beautification Day (May 17) and Strawberry Stroll (June 12) sponsorships are due in May. If you are planning to sponsor, please e-mail the FDP office at downtown.franklin@yahoo.com so we can include you on the flyers.

Click here to see our list of Sponsorship Opportunities.

Click here to download and print a Sponsorship Registration Form.

Steering Committee for Emmons Street Property

If you are interested in participating in the Steering Committee that will be developing ideas for the Emmons Street property, please contact Denise Schultz at deniselynnschultz@gmail.com or the FDP office at downtown.franklin@yahoo.com.

Economic Development Meeting

Wednesday, April 16th, 5:30 p.m.

Town Hall

Town Council Meeting

Wednesday, April 16th, 7:00 p.m.

Town Hall

Town Cultural District Meeting

Thursday, April 24th at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Franklin Public Library. 

Note:  Rescheduled from April 17th. The primary purpose of the meeting will be for the Cultural District Partnership (governance/management structure) to form and begin moving forward as its own entity. This meeting will also serve as a means for continued discussion about the Cultural District's geographic location (map critique) and discussion about the purpose and function of the Cultural District in general for the Town. Contact: btaberner@franklin.ma.us.

FDP General Meeting

Thursday, May 1st

8:30 a.m. at Dean College

Agenda will be posted on the website shortly.

Beautification Day

Saturday, May 17th, 9:00 a.m.

All businesses should remove holiday greens from their barrels this week. Contact Eileen Mason  at emason11@verizon.net if you plan to volunteer.

Photo courtesy of the Franklin Garden Club

Franklin Brochure Map

All paid 2014 FDP businesses will receive a free listing.  Terri Frank will be emailing advertising options soon. Please note there is very limited space to advertise, so if you are interested you should contact Terri as soon as you receive this information. Since the brochure will be printed by the end of May, we will Not be able to include any members who pay their membership late.

Harvest Festival

The booth form will be posted on the FDP website June 15th.  Terri Frank will be the contact this year and will be sending out information to current members. 2014 members will get a chance to sign up early before non-members.

Cultural Council Meeting to be April 24

The Cultural District meeting has been rescheduled:

The next Cultural District Meeting is Thursday, April 24th at 7PM in the Community Room of the Franklin Public Library.

The primary purpose of the meeting will be for the Cultural District Partnership (governance/management structure) to form and begin moving forward as its own entity. This meeting will also serve as a means for continued discussion about the Cultural District's geographic location (map critique) and discussion about the purpose and function of the Cultural District in general for the Town.

Click here to download this flyer.

Emmons Street Summary, Next Steps

For those of you who may have missed the recent Town Council meeting discussion on April 2 regarding the Emmons Street property this is a brief summary:

About 50 people attended the April 2 Town Council meeting, and more than a dozen residents, organization representatives and business owners spoke during the citizens comment period.

Several councilors then spoke before Councilor Matt Kelly made a motion to add a resolution to the April 16 Town Council meeting. The resolution, which passed unanimously, will authorize an "Expression of Interest" in which proposals will be accepted for 90 days. At the end of that period, the Economic Development Committee will make a final report to be presented at the September 3 Town Council meeting.

Questions that still need answers:

The Partnership Board of Directors recommended that the Town Council give the community time to work together to further develop ideas and research funding options.  They also asked that the Council to take the time needed to answer the following important questions:

1. What are the specific long-term goals for this property?
2. What is the plan for where businesses will park during the construction project?
3. How will losing the 50 parking spaces on this property affect downtown businesses?
4. What will the new traffic patterns be after the streetscape project and the two-way traffic pattern is implemented?
5. What state funding is available if the town considers a cultural center and greenspace?

Drive-thru options no longer being considered

In response to the FDP’s concern that the Town Council was considering a drive-thru retail business for the property, Councilor Matt Kelly assured the community that the Council is no longer considering any drive-thru options and will not be pursuing any type of drive-thru for this property.

Next Steps for community input

Community groups who are interested in a cultural/community center and greenspace/park at the Emmons Street location are now forming a steering committee to begin formulating more specific ideas.  Anyone interested in participating can contact Denise Schultz, deniselynnschultz@gmail.com, who will be setting up a meeting in the near future.

The next Economic Development meeting will be April 16th at 5:30 at Town Hall.

The Milford Daily News ran this story last Wednesday -- Franklin residents:  slow down on Emmons Street parcel by Matt Tota  http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140403/NEWS/140408709/?tag=1

Steve Sherlock provided live reporting of the meeting on Franklin Matters and also posted this synopsis of the Emmons Street discussion --  http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/04/this-is-just-discussion.html

The full text of Lisa Piana’s comments can be found here.

Multi-Media Coverage of Emmons Street Discussion

Franklin Matters has posted an audio recording of the April 2 Town Council meeting and the Emmons Street discussion:  http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/04/fm-104-150-emmons-st-discussion-at-town.html


In case you missed it, Franklin Matters also posted this synopsis of the meeting:   http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/04/this-is-just-discussion.html

Finally, the Milford Daily News ran this story Wednesday -- Franklin residents:  slow down on Emmons Street parcel by Matt Tota  http://www.milforddailynews.com/article/20140403/NEWS/140408709/?tag=1