By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Parking requirements continue to cause zoning predicaments in Bowling Green.
An apartment complex proposal, previously rejected for not having enough parking spaces, was resubmitted and granted a variance Wednesday by the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals
The project still didn’t meet the current parking requirements – but was tweaked enough that the board approved it this time around.
Bowling Green Planning Director Heather Sayler explained that the city’s parking requirements are among the many issues being addressed in the city’s zoning code update.
Sayler said the zoning code update is looking at the reduction in required parking spaces with residential and commercial developments. The city currently has “very, very extreme parking requirements,” she explained.
The proposed 96-unit apartment complex is planned by Wallick Communities on property owned by Lloyd and Linda Fite, in the 900 block of South Main Street. The property is bordered by the CSX tracks on the east, and by existing apartment complexes in the 200 and 300 blocks of Napoleon Road to the north.
The project went before the zoning board in June of 2021. At that point, the plans called for 202 parking spaces – rather than the required 358 spaces for that size of a complex.
The property is already zoned R-3 for multiple-family residential – but the developers said the variance is needed in order to make the project affordable.
In the new proposal, the developer did not reduce the number of apartment units, and the plan still violates the maximum lot coverage, with the complex covering 50% of the property rather than the 40% maximum in the zoning code.
However, this time around, the proposal squeezed in 223 parking spaces, still below the 358 required.
But the zoning board agreed Wednesday that the 2.17 parking spaces per apartment unit was acceptable.
The 16 one-bedroom, 44 two-bedroom, and 36 three-bedroom apartments are intended for the target population of the local workforce residents, rather than college students, according to Jimmy McCune of Wallick Communities.
“We would never propose a project that doesn’t have enough parking,” McCune told the zoning board.
Data shows that Wood County is lacking affordable rental housing, McCune said. The developer has already received tax credits from the state to help with the project.
“I’ve never seen so much data showing there is a need for affordable housing,” he said. “The demand is off the charts.”
