29 November 2007 Historic Franklin License Plate Unveiled Tomorrow Over the past few months, Franklin Tomorrow conducted a design competition and community voting process to select the historic Franklin license plate. The winning plate will be unveiled tomorrow morning at 10:30am on the Eastern Flank of the Battlefield by Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson and Franklin Mayor John Schroer. The public is invited to attend. Pre-sale of the license plate also begins tomorrow at the unveiling and at www.franklinplate.com. The purchase price of the license plate includes charter membership in Franklin Tomorrow. Please support this worthy cause and proudly display a license plate representative of our community values. Battle of Franklin Illumination and Related Events Tomorrow The City of Franklin is hosting the second annual Battle of Franklin Commemorative Illumination tomorrow, November 30th, at the Eastern Flank Battlefield Park at 5:00pm. The timing of the ceremony roughly corresponds to the timing of the battle in 1864. There will be 10,000 luminaries lit for the ceremony representing the approximate number of casualties (killed, wounded, captured or missing) of the battle and bands representing both the Union and Confederate Armies will participate. Attendees can enjoy living history vignettes including a field hospital setup nearby. Refreshments will be available and local authors will be on hand to sign books related to Franklin and the battle.   The State of Tennessee has scheduled an unveiling of the plans for the new visitors center at the Carter House at 1:00pm tomorrow afternoon. The Carter House will also have other special programming throughout the day and will host their annual Candlelight Home Tour on Saturday and Sunday, December 1 and 2. Carnton is offering it's "Blue and Gray Days" on Friday and Saturday, and will be providing special candlelight tours of the mansion following the Illumination. Please contact Carter House (791-1861) or Carnton (794-0903) directly for more information. Annual Christmas Parade on Saturday This Saturday, December 1, the Annual Franklin Christmas Parade begins downtown at 2:00pm. The parade will commence in front of the FSSD office on Highway 96 West, proceed east to Third Avenue, south on Third Avenue to the square, then west on Main Street. Come welcome Santa to town and enjoy the festivities! TDEC Announces Permit for Water Withdrawal On Wednesday the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) issued "A Notice of Determination" in response to the City's August, 2006 application for raw water withdrawal from the Harpeth River. A public hearing on this application was held March 8, 2007. A permit has been issued to the City effective November 28, 2007 and expiring November 27, 2012 for withdrawal of river water of "no more then 20% of the flow at the intake" and "flow in the Harpeth River shall not be reduced below 10 cubic feet per second". This allows for an increase withdrawal pump capacity to 17.4 cubic feet per second and allows for the present treatment plant capacity to be expanded to 4.15 million gallons per day. This permit would result in less degradation than the Harpeth River currently experiences and would not impair the river's uses, according to the TDEC report.       Detailed discussions with the City's consultant will begin at the Public Utilities meeting on December 17th. An important point to note: previous to this, the City's water withdrawal from the Harpeth was "grandfathered" and no permit had been issued by TDEC since the plant was constructed in 1952. This new permit is effective immediately and will regulate the operation of the current plant. With the issuance of this permit, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen can now evaluate the policy and financial decisions of expanding the water plant (or not) in open and public session. Stay tuned! Finance Committee from Monday 1. Clyde Barnhill was selected committee chairman and Ann Petersen vice chairman 2. Recommended ordinance to authorize the City Planning Director to adopt administrative regulations for the Zoning Ordinance 3. Discussed Codes Administration procedures concerning follow-up inspections intended to provide better communication and consistency between inspectors 4. Recommended ordinance to amend the FY07 budget for changes resulting from audit 5. Reviewed quarterly financial report 6. Recommended the addition of properties to the TIF District to encourage expedited repayment of the bonds dedicated to the Nissan Headquarters project 7. Received written reports on properties transferred from Williamson County to the City of Franklin   Transportation for Monday, 12/3 1. Selection of committee chairman and vice chairman 2. Consideration of request for a 4-way stop on Westerly Drive at Harwick Drive in McKay's Mill 3. Consideration of a special transportation summit on a date to be determined in January 4. Consideration of agreement with Pearl Street Partners to re-engineer South Carothers Parkway on the Lockewood property 5. Consideration to change the scope of work on the Hillsboro Road improvement project 6. Consideration to change the scope of work on Carothers Parkway, Phase II 7. Consideration of ordinance authorizing condemnation for acquisition of right-of-way and easements for construction of the Long Lane/Old Peytonsville Road connector across I-65 8. Consideration of resolution authorizing the Engineering Department to negotiate with TDOT regarding approval of an underpass for the Long Lane/Old Peytonsville Road connector 9. Consideration of setting date for Public Hearing on the Columbia Avenue TPR project 10. Status reports on Mack Hatcher Extension design and on Carothers Parkway, Phase I