To whom it may concern,

The potential rezoning of 5 Stones Church located at 236 Second Ave. S., Franklin, TN, is a gross government overreach. The church has NOT requested the rezoning and this could seriously limit the purpose for which the church was purchased.

Rezoning this recently purchased property, is discrimination against the church. It is nothing short of a handful of elected officials abusing their power and making a unilateral, authoritarian decision to abuse the patrons of the church community, who reside in Franklin and voted for you.

Should the Aldermen choose to move forward with this rezoning, it would establish a dangerous precedent to ALL businesses in the Franklin area, that the Aldermen can flippantly change zoning at their whim for no reason. 

To clarify, there is no benefit to the city to rezone this property. The traffic issues the city is dealing with are not impacted by 5 Stones Church attendance on Sunday morning or throughout the week. 

The reality is that one neighbor on the block, who is part of the “establishment“ in Franklin, is leveraging her relationships with the Aldermen to bully this church. Any Alderman voting to rezone the church is a clear sign that you are a part of the “establishment”.

Properties located on same end of 2nd Avenue as the church, including the property next door that shares a driveway with church, are zoned the same as the church and all should remain as such. 

As a voting member of the Franklin community, I am asking that you deny the request to rezone this property.  Failure to do so will be seen as an egregious use of power and discrimination against a church. This will create an uproar in the community, including churches and business owners who will now need to fear our Aldermen and the potential of this happening to them.

Sincerely,