Bowling Green newcomer Brent Fulk is hoping the development he has planned for acreage near Nashville Road and Waterbury Court will be par for the course in that fast-growing area.

Fulk, an insurance executive who decided to move his family from the West Coast to Bowling Green, is aiming to build a miniature golf venue with two 18-hole courses on a 3.9-acre wooded tract near the Western Kentucky University Center for Research and Development and across Nashville Road from the Penn Station shopping center that includes Lost River Pizza.

On Thursday, Fulk’s application for a variance was approved by the Warren County Board of Adjustments in the first step toward his plan to open the entertainment venue in late 2022 or early 2023.

“This is something that has always kinda been a dream of mine,” Fulk said Thursday. “I think it will be a fun thing to bring to Bowling Green. There’s nothing like this in town.”

With the Otte Golf Center on Scottsville Road long since turned into apartments, miniature golf options in Bowling Green are limited to a course at Beech Bend Park and an indoor course at Southern Lanes.

Fulk, who said he moved to Bowling Green for the “different pace of life,” hopes to fill that void.

His plan calls for two courses – one geared toward children and another for all ages – and an arcade and patio area for birthday parties and corporate events.

Fulk looked at property along Scottsville Road before deciding on the more affordable Nashville Road site.

He won approval Thursday for a variance of 240 feet from an adjacent apartment complex, but Fulk said there are still hurdles to clear before anyone can start sinking birdies on the property.

“I hope by the end of the year we can start moving forward with it,” he said. “But there’s still a chance it couldn’t happen if we find something on the geological surveys.”

The variance was approved in a 6-0 vote, but not everyone at Thursday’s meeting welcomed the development.

George Ransdell, a dentist with Cedar Hill Dental Diagnostics at 2601 Nashville Road, expressed concerns about the impact on the neighborhood and the environment.

“It’s going to affect the tenants in those apartments,” said Ransdell, whose dental practice is next door to the proposed development. “I’m really concerned about all the trees that are going to come down and the impact on the wildlife in that area.”

Fulk defended his plan, pointing out that he plans to install an eight-foot privacy fence along the border with residential areas.

“We do have to remove trees,” Fulk said, “but we’ll try to salvage as many as we can. The noise will be minimal, especially during his (Ransdell’s) hours of operation.”

Fulk said preliminary plans call for the miniature golf venue to be open until “9 or 10” on weeknights and until “10 or 11” on weekends.

“We have every intention of being family-friendly,” he said.

In other action at Thursday’s meeting, Charity and J. Kyle Goddard were approved for a conditional-use permit allowing them to operate a hair salon on their 1.02-acre property at 2625 Abby Court.