By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The Bowling Green Planning Commission has recommended that zoning be changed for two properties in the city – one for a new fire station and the other for the site of Poggemeyer Design Group.
The commission voiced unanimous support for both changes Wednesday evening. The rezoning requests will now go before City Council, which must hold public hearings on the zoning changes.
The first change involved approximately five acres at 1215 W. Newton Road, just to the east of the Bowling Green Community Center. The city requested that the zoning be changed from Innovation & Employment zoning to Institutional zoning to allow for the building of a new fire station and administrative offices for the city fire division.
Bob McOmber, chairman of the planning commission, noted the passage of a tax levy in November supporting the building of two new fire stations in Bowling Green. The other will be located at Carter Park, the Pearl Street station will be maintained, and the Court Street station will be demolished.
The fact that the levy won handily, is an indication that the public supports the new station planned on Newton Road, McOmber said.
The second rezoning request involved 5.8 acres at 1168 N. Main St., the site of the Poggemeyer Design Group. The change from Commercial zoning to Innovation & Employment zoning will allow for greater flexibility in the use of the property – for example, permitting light industrial uses, BG Planning Director Heather Sayler explained.
At its height, Poggemeyer Design Group was the go-to engineering and architectural firm in the region for public and private projects. If something needed to be built, PDG could design it.
Founded in 1968, PDG provided a full suite of design services and disciplines, including engineering (water and wastewater, transportation, civil, structural, forensic, mechanical, and electrical), surveying, architecture, planning, environmental operations services, construction management, and project finance consulting.
Its success was evident in the sprawling office building constructed in the 1990s on North Main Street in Bowling Green, to house its 120 employees.
“This was a vibrant employer here in the city,” attorney Rex Huffman said Wednesday during a Bowling Green Planning Commission meeting.
Since then the property has been occupied by Kleinfelder Group, which acquired Poggemeyer Design Group and its subsidiaries in 2020. Kleinfelder is an engineering, design, construction management, construction materials inspection and testing, and environmental professional services firm.
As agent for the petitioners, Huffman said the broader Innovation & Employment zoning will give the owners a better chance at “trying to find another use there to generate revenue for Bowling Green.”
