The “separation of church and state” has been a hallmark of our republic since the beginning. It was most famously noted in an 1802 letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists Association of Connecticut, in which he espouses “building a wall of separation between Church & State.”  Average people like you and me generally regard this as a safeguard against institutionalized, government-sanctioned religion.  But what about when government, rather the Establishment, targets religion?  Have you been following the plight of Canadian churches?  Could that happen here?  Buckle up for this – it has, and it is, and there is something you can do to help a Franklin church THIS WEEK, in time for Christmas.

Franklin just celebrated its Dickens Christmas Festival (Charles Dickens famously authored The Christmas Carol).  Could it be that we have our very own Franklin Christmas Carol in 2021?  Our Ebenezer Scrooge is played by a 2nd Ave South resident in downtown Franklin that appears to dislike her new neighbor:  the 5 Stones Church.  5 Stones first leased the property at 236 2nd Ave South in November 2019 and purchased the location in April 2021.  When viewed from the street, the property is the historic Eelbeck-Johnson House, built in 1820.  You may not notice that it’s a church except for the quaint metal sign and the entrances on the side of the building.  5 Stones keeps their property neat and orderly.  By all accounts, they are a good neighbor.  

The Second Avenue resident, who we understand has done a lot for the historic Franklin community, is also a long time, well-established and well-connected resident of downtown.  This resident is friends with outgoing Franklin Alderman, Margaret Martin, whom she solicited to pull a heavy-handed, bureaucratic move of stripping the church of its Central Commercial (CC) zoning and downgrading it to an Office/Residential (OR) zoning, or “down-zoning.” 

The resident’s complaint:  parking issues on Second Avenue South.  

Bah! Humbug!  

First, let’s admit that there have been parking issues throughout Franklin since the 1980s.  Second, our Scrooge admits removing the church won’t solve said parking issues.  Third, the church didn’t ask for the down-zoning and specifically asked the city NOT to SPOT down-zone their property.   

Typically, property owners of the affected property are the only parties that seek rezoning.  When the City of Franklin has rezoned property in the past, they have done so at the request of the property owner or they have done so with much larger tracts/groups of properties at one time for the purpose of bringing those tracts into alignment and compliance with the Franklin Land Use Plan. It is never just ONE property and especially a property where the owner has NOT requested the rezoning and specifically asked the city to NOT rezone the property.  This is arguably an illegal maneuver by a third party.

So, we’ve recently been through a Franklin Alderman election.  How did our newly elected officials fare in their leadership decision making?  Let’s look at the scorecard.  At the Nov 23^rd Board of Mayor and Alderman (BOMA) meeting, four aldermen voted against down-zoning the church (they voted for an amendment to the motion that would remove 5 Stones down-zoning from City Ordinance 2021-21 Rezoning Plan).  Four aldermen voted in favor of down-zoning the church by keeping it in the city plan, which will receive its final vote at tomorrow’s BOMA meeting.

VOTING AGAINST DOWN-ZONING THE CHURCH (SUPPORTING THE CHURCH’S REQUEST NOT TO BE REZONED):
Bev Burger, Gabrielle Hanson, Clyde Barnhill, Ann Petersen

VOTING IN FAVOR OF DOWN-ZONING THE CHURCH (AGAINST THE CHURCH’S REQUEST):
Jason Potts, Patrick Baggett, Matt Brown, Brandy Blanton

The tie-breaking vote was cast by Mayor Ken Moore SUPPORTING THE DOWN-ZONING.

Whaaaatt???  Three new Franklin Alderman voted to strip the church of its property rights?  Say it isn’t so.  I’ll pause for a moment to point out that our two Williamson Families-endorsed candidates, Alderman Bev Burger and Alderman Gabrielle Hanson, appear to be on the right side of this issue.  But the Establishment-backed Potts, Baggett, and Brown are voting in favor of…well, you guessed it…the Establishment.  Should we have expected anything else?  Personally, I’m an optimist and would have assumed all our elected representatives would, at the very least, decline to set a dangerous precedent that anyone could potentially have their property targeted by a disgruntled, but well-connected, Scrooge.  Shockingly (or not shockingly?), four Aldermen and the Mayor are going along with this.  They can’t claim ignorance of the ramifications because Aldermen Hanson, Barnhill and Burger, as well as the 5 Stones pastor, laid these out very plainly.

Here’s the play-by-play:  (Watch it HERE)

14:40  – Kelly from Franklin City planning discusses 5 Stones Church
16:19 – Public Commentary begins
19:00 – Former Alderman Margaret Martin public comment (against the church)
23:33 – Complainant Rudy Jordan public comment (against the church)
34:10 – 5 Stones Pastor, Sean Clark, public comment in defense of his church
39:40 – Alderman Hanson motions to delete the 5 Stones Church from the rezoning plan (Alderman Burger seconds the motion)
41:50 – Alderman Baggett speaks in favor of the down-zoning
56:00 – Alderman Barnhill speaks against down-zoning the church
1:00:55 – Vote occurs and results in a 4 vs 4 tie
1:02:50 – Mayor Ken Moore casts tie-breaking vote against the church and the motion fails
1:08:18 – Alderman Barnhill confirms a down-zoning would not solve the alleged traffic problems
1:09:20 – Alderman Burger echos Alderman Barnhill’s concerns and warns of city overreach
1:09:30 – Vote to approve “2^nd reading” of city rezoning Ordinance 2021-21 (this pushes the final read and final vote to the Dec 14^th BOMA meeting)

Beyond establishing an awful precedent for the targeting of specific businesses, what could this do to the church itself?  First, down-zoning could place the church in jeopardy with its lender, thus putting the church in jeopardy of closing its doors. Second, if the church sells the property afterward, they are likely to suffer financial losses due to the devaluation of the property due to down-zoning.  Ministry is a noble, not profitable, venture.  Why would the City of Franklin allow it to be harmed financially? 

I visit this exact area of Franklin several times a month to do business. In my experience, I’ve never encountered a traffic problem.  In fact, I had no idea there was even a church there.  Why is this zoning question even an issue?

Apparently, the 5 Stones pastor temporarily accommodated a homeschool pod for 6 weeks at the end of 2021, and that caused some traffic at drop-off and pickup. However, the church is no longer hosting the school as it was a very temporary solution to reach out and help a school who had an immediate need.  Before 5 Stones opened their doors, this school was stuck meeting outside under tents (that’s a whole other blog about Franklin’s hostile ordinance to homeschool activities).  5 Stones enabled them to complete the school year comfortably within a building,

Aside: As someone who has been involved with the creation of Liberty Schools, a network of homeschool pods that unites both teachers and students who have left Williamson County Schools, God bless any church that will open its doors to these little ones who need a safe and nurturing learning environment.  This pastor gets high marks in my book for even temporarily accommodating these children. It’s a shame that a few Scrooges could not see past drop-off and pickup to understand the bigger picture of what that homeschool pod represents.  But I digress.

The church, as it operates on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, does not affect Monday through Friday daily traffic patterns downtown.  Further, if the perceived traffic situation is so untenable, why is the church the only ‘business’ that has been targeted for rezoning?  Why is the zoning for all the remaining commercial properties on Second Avenue South not included?  A bridal shop shares the same parking lot as 5 Stones.  Kimbro’s Pickin’ Parlor abuts that same parking lot.  Why are these Christmas Scrooges not concerned that the Bridal Shop will sell to a “filling station” (a thoroughly debunked argument, by the way). Why do they favor Kimbro’s, where there have been 158 police calls and 4 arrests this year?  Who else remembers the somber funeral procession in June 2020 for the fallen Brentwood police officer, the first ever BPD officer killed in the line of duty?  It was especially poignant in contrast to all the “Defund the Police” nonsense that was going on at the time.  It was reported in the media that on June 18, 2020, a Kimbro’s manager assisted an inebriated female patron to her car before she went on minutes later to cause that accident on Franklin Road that killed the police officer and widowed his wife.  Why is Kimbro’s, which appears to contribute little to the good order of this neighborhood and operates throughout the week, overlooked, and yet a church, ministering to the people on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, is targeted for discrimination? 

Conjecture:  Could it be because our Scrooge, whom former Alderman Martin filed on behalf of, is the mother of the owner of Kimbro’s?  Nah, probably just coincidence. Additionally, Alderman Martin was formerly chairman of the Franklin Beer Board Committee.  Probably all in my head…

But you see, this is how the Establishment works.  Who do you know?  What connections do you have?  Who owes you?  Who worked on your campaign?  It’s not about “Do you love this country? Do you put Williamson County and it’s citizens first?” or “Do you stand on the conservative principles you assured your constituents were near and dear to your heart?”    

In writing this blog, I attended Sunday service at 5 Stones church.  I wanted to go through the process of parking my car on Sunday morning, hearing the message, meeting the people.  First off, no less than four church members in safety vests directed me to safely park in the parking lot across the street.  They also politely reminded me to move my car upon completion of the service.  I was struck by the exceptional children’s ministry at 5 stones; it appears that 50% of their space is dedicated to children and my kids LOVED their time there.  It’s a fairly young congregation, founded in 2016, and a good portion of their members seemed to be a younger demographic.  I listened to the sermon, I met the people, I saw two baptisms on a cold December morning.  Folks, this is a thriving church that blesses Williamson County.  I pray that the people of Williamson County will bless them in standing with them in their fight against intrusive government overreach.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Attend the upcoming BOMA meeting on Tuesday, Dec 14^th, 7 PM at Franklin City Hall. There is not public commentary, but a physical show of support to the pastor and church members who will be there speaks volumes to all sides.
2. Sign the petition HERE.
3. Write your Alderman, or better yet, all the Aldermen, as well as Mayor Ken Moore, to let them know the community will not tolerate the targeting of a church and abusive government overreach of spot zoning/down-zoning of a property. Addresses below:

WRITE TO THESE ALDERMEN ASKING THEM TO REVERSE THEIR STANCE IN FAVOR OF DOWN-ZONING AND AGAINST 5 STONES CHURCH:

1. Matt Brown, Ward 2 [email protected]
2. Jason Potts, Ward 3 [email protected] 
3. Patrick Baggett, Ward 4 [email protected]
4. Brandy Blanton, At-Large [email protected]
5. Ken Moore, Mayor (tie breaker) [email protected]

WRITE TO THESE ALDERMEN, SUPPORTING THEM FOR THEIR VOTE AGAINST THE REZONING AND FOR THE CHURCH:

1. Bev Burger, Ward 1 [email protected] 
2. Gabrielle Hanson, At Large [email protected]
3. Clyde Barnhill, At Large [email protected]
4. Ann Petersen, At Large [email protected]

There is no question that 5 Stones needs your help THIS WEEK.  The city would ultimately lose in a lawsuit but it would take the church years, and who’s to say the church could financially survive it?  Franklin/ Williamson County, let this be our Christmas miracle.  Let’s save 5 Stones church in time for Christmas.  Let’s also send a message to these Alderman who have voted to exercise abusive government power that We the People are watching, we care and we are involved.  And maybe, just maybe, our curmudgeonly Franklin Scrooge will be renewed into the joyful Scrooge of Christmas morning.  That would be the true miracle.  Pray for the church.  Pray for the Scrooge.  And God bless us, everyone.