Friends of Ferrum Park’s plan to bring a community park to Ferrum since March of 2023 was denied by the Development Department.
FOFP was in competition with another proposal, and both were denied by the Development Department for not having the amount of housing they wanted the property to have.
The Development Department wanted anywhere from 140-400 houses.
FOFP’s proposal was going to have 20 duplexes for a total of 40 units.
The land FOFP was proposing bordered campus covering 84.17 acres, and the land has been untouched since 1996.
The Development Department is recommending that they open it back up for RFP’s (Request for Proposals) auction it off, list it with a realtor, or have FOFP buy a portion and give the rest to a ‘real’ developer.
“They seem to think they’re sitting on a gold mine for developers even though there’s been non interest, even when they offered it up to them for free,” Director of FOFP Rebecca Saunders said.
Tomorrow, March 19 at 4 p.m., the Board of Supervisors of Franklin County will vote on whether to move forward with one or reject both like the Development Department recommends.
“There’s been a lot of wishy-washy support from a few of the board members, and were afraid they may just opt to kill it on Tuesday because we’ve been pushing back hard on the supervisors who have switched their positions,” Saunders said.
The Board will either deny the proposal, table it, or not agree with the Development Department and choose one of the two proposals.
“We’re encouraging folks to come out and show support–ideally at 4 p.m. for the vote, or at the 6 p.m. public session,” Saunders said. “The more eyes on them, the harder it will hopefully be to reject it.
If the proposal is rejected, it will not be the end of FOFP.
“We don’t know what the immediate future holds, but we want to have a public space for the people of Ferrum,” Saunders said. “There isn’t a community park, or even a place for people to have a picnic. Our goal with the non-profit is to bring a place to the community that’s public.”
