By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
From her home on East Poe Road, Lesley Riker has watched the racks piled up outside the Vehtek manufacturing plant grow higher and higher.
They now tower as high as 40 feet.
“I’m looking at that everyday,” Riker said last week, showing members of the Bowling Green Zoning Board of Appeals her photos of the view across the road from her home.
The stacks of racks are an eyesore, have caused the value of Riker’s home to drop, and have killed trees planted along Poe Ditch, Riker said.
So the news that Vehtek was planning to clean up the property along Poe Road – or at least block it from view with a fence – was welcome news to the neighbor.
“If they are truly trying to clean up, OK. But I’m not seeing it yet,” Riker said.
The company has requested a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals to allow for a 10 foot tall chain link fence with screening along the northern property line. The fence would be three feet taller than allowed for a fence located in industrial zoning on a lot line.
Though better than nothing, Riker said the fence would do little to improve the view from her home.
“A 10-foot fence is not going to touch the racks 40 feet high,” she said.
After being asked repeatedly by city officials to reduce the outside rack storage and improve parking availability for its more than 750 employees, Vehtek purchased a small property to the west of its plant for expansion of parking.
Bowling Green Fire Chief Bill Moorman has been working with the company to improve safety on the site by getting rid of the racking, and by moving the parking away from the building so fire emergency vehicles can get close to the building when responding.
Sue Clark, executive director of Bowling Green Economic Development, has also tried to get Vehtek officials to clean up the site.
Clark told the Zoning Board of Appeals that a covenant for Woodbridge Industrial Park, where Vehtek is located, does not allow outside storage.
“I remind them of that about once a month,” Clark said. “I’m becoming a professional nag.”
Riker said the space outside the plant is so crowded that recently trucks were forced to do their loading and unloading on East Poe Road. The process blocked the road for several hours, she said.
No one representing Vehtek attended the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, so chairperson Judy Ennis suggested the matter be tabled until someone from the company could be present to answer the board’s questions. The next meeting is Aug. 14.
Also at the zoning meeting last week, the board rejected a variance request from Peter Brotzki, who wanted to put a 6-foot tall privacy fence at his new home on Lelanford Circle. The privacy fence would extend 12 feet into the front yard setback, which is two feet taller than allowed.
Several neighbors were present at the meeting to voice their opposition to the variance, which they said would ruin the open yard design envisioned by the developer.
Brotzki explained that when he purchased the home, he was under the impression that a privacy fence could be constructed. The home sits on a corner lot, and is exposed to a lot of traffic. His wife, Wanda, said they have teenage daughters who would like to sunbathe, but there are seven registered sex offenders within two miles of their home.
Their neighbors said they feel very safe in their development, and that the 6-foot fence would be an eyesore. Multiple neighbors apologized for their first meeting with the Brotzkis being at the zoning meeting.
“Sorry to meet like this,” Ruth Stechschulte said. “You have good neighbors and they do watch out for everyone.”
It appears some of the confusion occurred because there are deed restrictions in the development, but there is no functioning homeowners association.
“I’m sensitive to some of the needs expressed by the residents,” neighbor George Massar said. But such a tall fence would “fundamentally alter the character of the community,” he added.
City Council member Bill Herald voiced his understanding of both sides of the issue, having raised his children on a corner lot.
“I’m sensitive to that,” he said. “But I’m also sensitive to people wanting to maintain the character of their neighborhood.”
Herald offered to be a liaison and help to find a compromise that would satisfy both sides of the issue. The zoning board voted to deny the variance, with Ennis suggesting that the homeowners take advantage of Herald’s offer to help find a resolution.
