It’s one thing to hear about good economic horizons. It’s another to see cold, hard evidence of positive change.

The City of Franklin planning department has been in contact with a current owner of two motels who has requested to build a third.

Given the fact that Mike and Harsha Desai, owners of the Comfort Inn in Franklin and the Courtland Inn situated in the county, made the request bodes well. If business was poor, the owners certainly would not have considered adding another property to their portfolio.

The Desais are proposing building a Holiday Inn Express on Armory Drive on a 1.85-acre lot north of the current location of the Comfort Inn.

The city’s planning commission is scheduled to review a site plan at its meeting tomorrow night.

If all goes well from this point forward, the area will be home to three new or refurbished motels in a 10-mile radius.

The Palm Tree Inn on Rt. 58 and the Country Host Inn on Business 58 just inside Isle of Wight County are closer to completion.

Zoning issues don’t appear to offer much in the way of roadblocks to the plan, at least in its infant stage, and we hope the project continues and succeeds.

If the site plan gets approval, building plans would be examined.

But with the continued retail and commercial growth along and around Armory Drive, this is another good, um, site to see.