Good morning to you all,
As some of you may be aware, the County’s Planning Commission and staff are undertaking a rewrite of the 1988 Zoning Ordinance for the County. The consultant firm, Berkley Group, has been working with the Planning Commission and staff for about 8 months in drafting the new zoning ordinance. The County has a dedicated website for this project that can be found at https://franklin-county-zoning-ordinance-update-franklincova.hub.arcgis.com/. There are two places to review the document on this website: Click, the “Drafted Zoning Ordinance Sections” on the homepage or click “Documents” and view the “Board of Supervisors Reports”. Staff would like to discuss and hear your comments.
There will be an open house at the Franklin Center in Rocky Mount on March 26th from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Staff along with representatives of Berkley Group will be on hand to discuss and answer any questions concerning the update. (A flyer is attached.) Staff anticipate adoption by the Board of Supervisors in the summer of 2026.
In addition, the Building and Planning Departments are pleased to announce that we are working on a new permitting system, OpenGov. The system will be more user friendly and allow all planning and building permits to be submitted online. This new system should be more efficient and allow permits to be obtained faster and more efficiently. The new system will allow both the building and planning departments to review at the same time. You will be able to check the status of your permit and communicate with staff more effectively. We feel this system will be more efficient and less time-consuming for everyone. We anticipate a live date of the new system sometime in April of this year.
Both staffs are anticipating holding an informational meeting on both projects soon to discuss and answer questions. Look for information by email by the end of February/beginning of March.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact John and/or I by email or phone. Thanks, Lisa and John.
Lisa Cooper, CZA and CTM
Director of Planning
John Broughton, CBO
Building Office
Development Services
Departments of Building, Planning and Zoning
1255 Franklin Street, Suite 103
Rocky Mount, VA 24151
lisa.cooper@franklincountyva.gov 540-483-4462
john.broughton@franklincountyva.gov 540-483-3047 ext 2248