By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
A chain restaurant known for its ButterBurgers, Wisconsin cheese curds, and creamy frozen yogurt has set its sights in Bowling Green.
Culver’s restaurant plans to open up a site on West Gypsy Lane Road, east of the entrance to Walmart.
The restaurant has requested a zoning variance to allow for the construction of six signs – four wall signs and two signs on a pylon. That exceeds the maximum of three signs allowed for a business in Bowling Green’s zoning code.
The issue will be heard by the Zoning Board of Appeals on May 11 at 7 p.m., in the city council chambers at 304 N. Church St.
Bowling Green Planning Director Heather Sayler said Culver’s has not yet applied for building permits – probably waiting to do that until the sign issue is resolved.
“They want to get that out of the way first,” Sayler said.
Culver’s recently opened a location in Spring Meadows off Airport Highway, and is building another site in Perrysburg.
“They’re very busy. There’s always a long line,” Sayler said of the new Spring Meadows location.
Another zoning issue on the May agenda is the return of a request for a variance to allow the construction of a 96-unit apartment complex with fewer parking spaces and more lot coverage than allowed.
The project is nearly identical to a project that was rejected by the Zoning Board of Appeals in June of 2021.
The zoning variance is needed since the project would provide 223 off-street parking spaces (2.17 spaces per unit) rather than the required 358 off-street parking spaces – a difference of 135 spaces. The last proposal included 202 parking spaces.
“You can’t submit the same site plan twice,” Sayler explained.
The proposed apartment complex would also exceed the 40% maximum lot coverage by approximately 10% – the same as the last proposal.
The development, by Wallick Communities, is proposed on property owned by Lloyd and Linda Fite, in the 900 block of South Main Street. The property, which is vacant, 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.
