Residential developments that would add more than 500 homes and another 300 apartments were recommended for approval Thursday by the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County.

A proposed development on Plano Road near the William H. Natcher Parkway and across Plano Road from Countrywood Place subdivision and Shady Grove apartments will add 300 single-family homes and another 300 apartments if the Bowling Green City Commission follows the planning commission’s unanimous recommendation to approve rezoning the 82-acre tract from agriculture and heavy industrial to single-family residential and multi-family residential.

The application from developers Rodney Rogers and Renee Isaacs calls for 49.56 of the acres to be developed into a maximum of 300 single-family homes and the remaining 32.45 acres to be developed as eight-unit and four-unit apartment buildings totaling as many as 300 units. The property was annexed by the city of Bowling Green last year as part of a larger annexation.

The nine members of the commission present all voted to approve the rezoning, which included some concessions by the developer. Rogers, president of Stewart-Richey Construction, said he will comply with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the Bowling Green Public Works Department to build right and left turn lanes on Plano Road at the entrances to the apartment complex and to the single-family housing development.

Leading up to the meeting, several Plano residents expressed concerns on social media about the development creating increased traffic on the narrow road, but only one person showed up to speak against it.

Kayla Smith, whose property is next to the proposed residential development, said she was concerned both about traffic congestion and loss of privacy in what had been a rural area.

Rogers said the single-family homes will meet a need in Warren County. The development plan said the homes will have a minimum of 1,000 square feet of living space and a one-car garage. He estimates the homes will sell for $150,000 and up.

“In talking to Realtors, they said there is a great demand for that price point,” Rogers said. “We’ll be fulfilling a demand that’s really pent up.”

The apartment side of the development includes a clubhouse with a swimming pool and other recreation amenities that Rogers said could also be utilized by the residents in the single-family development.

The other large development approved Thursday will bring a maximum of 232 homes to a 53-acre tract at 654 John D. Jones Road near the Russellville Road-Natcher Parkway intersection. The commissioners voted to recommend rezoning the property from agriculture to single-family. The property was annexed by the city of Bowling Green nearly 20 years ago, so the city commission will have final say on the rezoning.

Much like the Plano Road project, this one will have mid-priced homes. Joe Hogan of Pin Oak Developments said the lots will range from 50 feet to 70 feet in width and will have 1,200 to 1,400 square feet of living space.

“It will be the same as the development right next to it (Springwater),” said Hogan, who estimates the homes will be priced from $150,000 to $250,000.

The planning commission also recommended for approval three small residential developments on county property. All three will need to get final approval from Warren County Fiscal Court.

Gary Hunt was approved for rezoning three acres on Alvaton-Scottsville Road from agriculture to residential estate in order to subdivide the property into two residential lots.

Mark Douglas Construction was approved for rezoning 4.99 acres at 3833 Old Greenhill Road from agriculture to residential estate in order to create two residential lots.

The John Vance Estate won approval for a Future Land Use Map amendment and a rezoning from agriculture to residential estate on property along Morris Duff Road bounded by Clark Street and Nashville Road. The rezoning applies to 6.53 of the 8.42 total acres and will allow for one additional lot and an increase in size of four existing lots that already have homes on them.

The commissioners, after hearing lengthy testimony, voted to deny a rezoning application brought forth by Gary and Diane Howerton. They were asking that 0.368 acres of a 2.47-acre lot along Ewing Way near Cemetery Road be rezoned from single-family residential to highway business.

Diane Howerton, a former Bowling Green city commissioner, argued that the rezoning was needed as a “housekeeping” issue that would bring the entire tract into the same highway business designation.

“We hope to sell it, and we have an interested buyer,” she said. “It makes more sense if the entire parcel has the same zoning.”

Attorney David Broderick spoke against the rezoning as a representative of a group called the Foundation for the Preservation of the Cemetery Road Corridor.

The founder of that nonprofit foundation, Harvey Johnston, also argued against the rezoning, citing fears that it would lead to the property being sold to someone who would put a commercial development on it.

“We don’t know what’s going to be there and how it’s going to blend in with what is exclusively residential,” said Johnston, who presented a box full of signatures on a petition opposing commercial development along the road. “We don’t want Cemetery Road to become Scottsville Road.”

All nine commissioners voted to deny the rezoning application.

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.