Franklin Developer Offers Schools $1.2M With A Trade-Off

FRANKLIN, TN — Williamson County Schools needs a little more than $3 million for desired athletic facility upgrades at Franklin High School. A developer says he's willing to offer up more than a third of what's needed, but the school district has to make him — and the would-be buyers of his new subdivision — a promise.

John Rochford, the owner and developer of the massive Stephens Valley development near Natchez Trace Parkway, says he'll give $1.2 million to the district in exchange for a 10-year assurance that his new subdivision will be zoned for Grassland Elementary, Grassland Middle and Franklin High School.

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"I looked at this and said, 'I could make a difference to this school,'" Rochford told The Tennessean. "This takes growth off the backs of the existing taxpayer. How can you not look at this in a beneficial light?"

Stephens Valley, which plans for 792 homes built over the next 20 years in deliberate phases, had been likely to be zoned for Fairview High School, so the school board has to decide if the juice is worth the squeeze. The school board agreed with Rochford's assertion that because of the relatively slow pace of the development of Stephens Valley, the overall impact on school growth would be negligible. District staff projections show that none of the three schools called for in Rochford's proposal would go over-capacity with the addition of Stephens Valley in their catchment.

Still, some school board members wondered if accepting the donation would put a for-sale sign on future zoning plans.

"I think introducing money into our zoning decisions is a dangerous precedent," said school board member Anne McGraw, according to the newspaper. "I think we're telling our developers that our zoning parameters are for sale."

Board member Rick Wimberly conceded that in "an ideal situation" accepting the donation would be a bad call, but with the county commission becoming increasingly vexed as to how fund school upgrades the district says are necessary and having to resort to creative ways of financing them without a tax increase, Wimberly added that the current situation isn't ideal anyway.

The school board will vote formally on the proposal Monday.

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