On March 23rd , our Bowling Green city government organized an informative
public forum devoted to proposed zoning updates for our city. There were three
presentations, small group discussions, and a question-and-answer period. I
presented an explanation of the Central Residential District (CRD) proposal on
behalf of the Save Our BG Neighborhoods grassroots group. For those unfamiliar
with the proposal, our group proposes to cap, rather than increase, the number of
businesses and two-unit houses allowed to operate in our neighborhoods. I
continue to hope this approach will be adopted to promote homeownership and
quality of life in our inner city.
Unfortunately, when it came to answering attendees’ questions, the forum fell
woefully short. In the time allowed, Council members tried to respond to a limited
number of queries. At times there appeared to be a translation problem. For
example, many people have wondered, if mixed-use zoning is so beneficial, why it
shouldn’t be implemented in The Village, Westgate, “Bird Streets,” and elsewhere
— not solely in the central neighborhoods?
A modest outcry arose when this question got simplified to, “Why not just have
one type of zoning for the whole town?” That version clearly failed to convey the
questioner’s point.
And now we know that most Council members, in fact, do not want businesses and
duplexes in their own neighborhoods — they voted against it at their latest work
session.
Since so many basic questions remain, I would like to pose a few of them here:
Why was the proposed Pedestrian Residential District (PR) targeted for special
rules which somehow do not apply to the entire city of Bowling Green?
Why do we need to allow 80% or even 70% coverage of lots in the PR district?
Why do we need to allow more businesses in residential neighborhoods when we
have empty storefronts on Main Street?
Why do we need to allow more two-unit dwellings in neighborhoods that are
already home to numerous non-conforming duplexes, triplexes and multi-unit
buildings?
Why are there no City inspections of rental properties? And why are there no
appropriate fines for non-compliance?
Why are some cherry-picked comments from a document compiled in 2018 more
important than what current residents want today?
It would be helpful for our elected officials to at least remove such basic confusion
before unwanted rules are imposed on our homes and neighborhoods. Anything
less is an affront to our representational democracy.
John Sampen
Bowling Green
