Council tables developer agreement with Franklin School District after district edits removed key DA language

The City of Franklin Common Council on Jan. 6 tabled consideration of a development agreement with the Franklin School District covering work at Franklin High School (8222 S. 51st St.) after staff discovered the district's signed version removed key boilerplate provisions.

City staff told the council the signed copy delivered by the school district deleted "some very important key language" from the city's standard developer agreement used for public improvements. The city engineer explained the water main work is a public improvement (within an easement on the school property) and that the developer agreement is the typical mechanism by which developers build infrastructure to the city's standards before dedication. Because the submitted agreement differed from the city boilerplate and staff were not comfortable proceeding, the item was tabled to the Jan. 20 meeting to allow staff to restore the standard language.

The council's action was procedural: tabling allows staff and the district to reconcile wording and for councilors to review a finalized draft before any authorization to begin work or accept responsibility for improvements.

Next steps: staff will work to reconcile the district's signed copy with the city's standard developer agreement and return the item to the Jan. 20 council meeting.