Franklin County residents asked to weigh in on Economic Development Strategic Plan

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. (WDBJ) - Franklin County residents, now is the time to make your voices heard.

The county wants you to take part in a survey geared toward how Franklin County can grow as a place people want to live, visit and work.

The goal with the community is to develop an Economic Development Strategic Plan.

The Economic Development Director said it’s the first time the office is doing something like this.

“Franklin County is at this really pivotal moment, I think, where there’s a lot of potential here. We have Smith Mountain Lake, which is a huge asset, Ferrum College, downtown Rocky Mount, all of our little village areas like Union Hall, Calloway, Ferrum, Westlake, and there’s a lot of potential here. We’ve had a lot of new small businesses come in. We know people are relocating to the area and we just want to be sure that what we do in the future is what our community wants and needs,” said Beth Simms, Director of Economic Development.

The survey is online only.

“One of the questions that we ask on the survey is what are you driving out of town to purchase? If you’re having to drive out of town for a service or if you’re having to drive out of town to go buy a good, and we can recruit that company here, then that’s what we’d like to do,” said Simms.

The county will ask for your opinion ‘til the end of March.

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