By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green Planning Commission took steps Wednesday evening to keep the city administration building downtown and keep some wild acreage next to Wintergarden/St. John’s Nature Preserve.
The rezoning of 1.4 acres downtown, and the annexation of 18.5 acres off Wintergarden Road, both received unanimous support from the planning commission and will now move on to City Council for the next step of the processes.
The rezoning will pave the way for the construction of a new city building starting late this year or early 2022. The new building will have about 31,000 square feet, compared to 17,000 in the existing government building.
The downtown acreage at 305 N. Main St., plus 304 and 316 N. Church St. were recommended to become B-3 Central Business zoning. The parcels currently house the outdated city building, the county senior center, and a house to the north of the city building.
City Planning Director Heather Sayler promoted the site as a prime location for the new city administration building.
“This is the jewel in the city’s crown,” she said of the downtown area. And keeping the city government building there will help the area thrive. “Downtown is really the key to Bowling Green.”
In addition to constructing a new city building on the site, the plans are also looking into closing the entrance to West Oak Street from North Main Street – and instead leaving that area between the library and the new city building as a green space.
“There’s no question the city has needed a new city administration building for years and years and years,” said Jeff Betts, president of the city planning commission.
The additional space is needed, Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter said.
“We are looking at balancing our current needs with future needs,” Tretter said.
Betts said the downtown location and use of the historic facade of the current senior center make sense.
“I think it matches all the things we’ve looked for,” in a city building location, said Judy Ennis, a member of the city planning commission.
Also at the meeting, the planning commission voted in favor of annexing 18.5 acres off South Wintergarden Road from Plain Township into the city. The acreage will become part of Wintergarden Park/St. John’s Woods.
The Carlene Creps family, which owned land adjacent to the park, has signed an agreement with the Black Swamp Conservancy that protects the acreage from future development.
The land, which is mainly open area, sits off Wintergarden Road, south of the park entrance. All of the property, except for the house and barn, will become part of the city park.
“As someone who walks around there a lot, this makes sense,” Ennis said.
Creps’ grandparents, the Redmans, owned the property at the turn of the 20th century, and it was farmed and pastured in traditional methods of the time until the early 21st century when it was entered into the federal conservation reserve program. That required the reversion of the property to native prairie grasses.
The value of the acreage is three-fold, according to Kristin Otley, director of the city’s parks and recreation department:
- The property is the last significant open space contiguous with the existing park land.
- The environmental value is immeasurable, and the parks and recreation department can manage the property as a natural area including prairie and wetlands.
- The new property offers residents more opportunities for passive recreation including walking, running and nature observation, with the addition of trails, an observation deck, and a possible bird blind.
The park currently offers more than 100 acres of meadows, woods and wetlands for citizens. It has miles of trails, areas where families can eat lunch, play in the woods, and catch a glimpse of local wildlife.
“Our natural resources staff, all of us, have eyed that property for a while,” Otley said when the property became available. “It’s the last contiguous property to Wintergarden that we would have the opportunity to preserve.”
