City commission considers rezoning in Covington Woods neighborhood

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – During the first City Commission meeting of 2021, commissioners were set to hear a rezoning issue involving the Covington Woods neighborhood.

The first Bowling Green City Commissioners meeting of the year took place Tuesday night where the new commissioners voted on multiple municipal ordinances, including one that has been slightly controversial.

Many items on the agenda involved approving appointments, but the last item involved rezoning the Speedway on the corner of Broadway and Covington.

At the last commissioners meeting, some commissioners voted no to the rezoning. But Tuesday, after amendments were made to the rezoning agreement, the rezoning order passed unanimously.

The rezoning means that the Speedway will be allowed to improve and expand their current building and add a parking space to a property that is currently zoned as residential.

That rezoning had been contested by residents of Covington neighborhood for fear that commercial properties would encroach upon the neighborhood.

In order for the commission to approve the rezoning request, the Speedway representatives agreed to put up a 6-foot fence and a 40-foot landscape buffer between the residential neighborhood and the building.

Those buffers will have to be maintained for any commercial business that may own the property in the future as well.

The Speedway representatives are also going to change the exits out of the speedway to make entering and exiting safer citing complaints of traffic and dangerous driving areas by the intersection.

The Speedway has already been inits current location for 31 years near the Covington neighborhood.

The neighborhood is not officially historic but is often considered historic.

The Speedway expansion will allow the addition of more pumps from four to seven all in one line instead of two rows.

They will also be building a brand-new facility in place of the current building.

The expansion will take place using a used car lot next door and a residential property behind the property that Speedway has already purchased.

To notify the Covington community of the changes and of the planning commissions meetings, notices were sent by mail, newspaper, and signage was placed outside.

David Broderick, the lawyer representing Speedway, said he does not believe the Speedway will cause the value of the homes nearby to drop. He believes it will help their property values.

Tuesday was also the first meeting for Carlos Bailey who is a new commissioner and Mayor Todd Alcott.