Bowling Green City Commission holds working session for Parks & Rec Master Plan

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Bowling Green City Commission held a working session to hear from Bowling Green Parks and Rec about their master plan, and what the future of parks will look like in the city.

“Because of their input, we didn’t only get a first class plan, we got a pathway for at least our ten year future, and to be honest with you beyond that, for our growth as a community. That’s something that we are excited about and very happy to have with us to help guide us,” director Brent Belcher says.

At the first City Commission meeting of 2026, Belcher spoke to us about three of the main components.

“The folks love the trails. They want opportunities to get to the park. Because of that, connectivity was high as well as connectivity to our parks, to our current parks, they want to be able to go from their home and get to some green space or parks and activities. So that was important… they want their facilities, our current facilities maintained at the current or higher levels, right. They want, we want to keep our facilities that we have in the best shape possible… and then simple things like nature, they want shade trees,” Belcher says.

The first phase of that starts with the Riverfront Park, which began construction on Tuesday and is expected to be done in the next few months.

“We’ll say early summer, okay… and make it in that range. But we hope that snowballs the fact that phase two follows right behind that. That obviously would be… you’re talking about a park that has multiple levels to it. So you get the first phase… the first phase, by the way, is so important because it really sets the stage for what’s to follow, right? A lot of it is some things that we may not see when it’s completed, because there’s going to be some… it’s going to set you up for what’s the phase two. We’re going to have access in 2026 that we didn’t have in 25, and that’s the important thing that phase one will help us work,” Belcher says.

As for the plan itself, the Commission wants a little more time to iron out some things before officially approving it.

“The Board of Commissioners were looking for a little more information on some of the connectivity issues, and wanted to see about some of that. But with that said, the reality is the master plan has got the information in it and we can use it for our preparation for our FY27 budget preparation… and then we’ll follow whatever schedule needed for our board commissioners to continue on to review that and give us that approval,” Belcher says.

News 40 will keep you updated as we learn more.