Franklin County Development to Turn Bucolic Countryside into Ballymore Plantation

The first shovel of dirt has not yet turned at the future site of Ballymore Plantation. But when all is said and done, 541 acres of rural, rolling Franklin County land will change dramatically.

Eight-hundred and eighty-four homes are planned, all built around an 18-hole golf course.

The houses, which range in price from the $170s to over $400,000, are part of a development unlike any other in Franklin County.

Renee McCormick's company, The Home Team Incorporated, is developing the $40 million project.

"The goal here is to help Franklin County progress to the best thing that it possibly can be," she says.

McCormick says anti-growth forces have nothing to fear.

"I think they appreciate what I'm trying to do as far as making it a community that we can all be proud of and look back on," she says. "Development is coming this way, and it needs to be done in a way that we're all going to still want to live here."

Most of Franklin County is wide open spaces, farming areas with a rural charm and character.

So what do the long-time residents like Julius Wheeler think?

Wheeler has 40 acres just down the street from the big, new development and he says he is not worried.

Developers say it could take seven to 10 years before the development is finished.