By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
For decades, the giant smiley face on the big white barn welcomed motorists on Interstate 75 as they traveled north of Bowling Green. The message advertised no product – just simply offered a happy greeting, signed Joe & Gertie.
Though the smile has faded, the barn still stands at the northwest corner of I-75 and Ohio 582. But Joe and Gertie Carpenter are long gone. The barrel of water at their driveway with a jug for filling strangers’ stubborn radiators is no longer there.
And so now it is up to the Carpenters’ three children to decide what to do with the 95 acres the family owns at the site. The land has long been farmed, but developers have approached the offspring about the acreage with easy access to I-75 and Route 582.
So Joe and Gertie’s children have asked that Middleton Township change the zoning from A-1 agricultural to M-1 light industrial.
“They want to make the property more marketable for industrial and commercial end users,” explained Dave Steiner, director of the Wood County Planning Commission. The zoning request came before the county planning commission on Tuesday on its way to the Middleton Township Trustees, who will make the final decision on the zoning request.
There is no specific plan yet for the site, “but they would rather have it zoned and ready to go,” Steiner said. “We’re seeing this more and more.”
Other acreage in the area has already gone through the same preparations, such as the property at the southwest corner of Route 582 and Mercer Road. A couple miles to the west, acreage at the southeast corner of Route 582 and Ohio 25 is already being used for industrial purposes.
Tom Teet, attorney for the Carpenter family, pointed out how people can recognize the acreage in question.
“It’s the barn that has the big smiley face,” he said.
The family is not in a rush to sell the acreage, in fact, “the property’s not for sale,” Teet said. However, the three Carpenter siblings and Teet have received multiple phone calls from prospective purchasers. The prospects are no longer interested when they find out the acreage is zoned for agriculture, he said.
“The first step is zoning,” Teet said about the M-1 request. “That ideally fits the potential uses of that property.”
The second step is utilities, Teet added. The site already has gas and electric accessible, and water and sewer are about a half mile down the road from the Northwestern Water and Sewer District.
“We’re just trying to make the site usable for potential users,” Teet said.
The proposed light industrial use complies with land use plans that call for an “employment corridor” in that area, he added.
The county planning commission recommended approval for the zoning request, with the final decision for the home of Joe & Gertie’s smiley face barn resting with Middleton Township.
