Plans are in the works to transform a 76 acre field alongside Hedge Street just outside Smiths Grove into a 265-lot residential area. Nearby, a 30 acre field now owned by Warren County Public Schools is planned to house the new North Warren Elementary School. Hearings for both rezoning are scheduled for Thursday’s City-County Planning Commission.

Buc-ee’s in Smiths Grove hasn’t yet pumped its first gallon of gas or served its first brisket sandwich, and yet the transformation of the northern Warren County burg from bucolic to bustling may already be accelerating.

A 265-lot residential subdivision is in the works along Hedge Street on a 76-acre parcel just outside Smiths Grove city limits, and the Warren County Board of Education owns 30 acres nearby where it aims to eventually build a new North Warren Elementary School.

Rezoning hearings for both properties are scheduled for Thursday’s City-County Planning Commission of Warren County meeting at the county courthouse, and a number of Smiths Grove residents are expected to make the trip down Interstate 65 to weigh in on the developments.

The subdivision, in particular, has the attention of residents already anxious about the summertime opening of the 53,471-square-foot Buc-ee’s and its 120 gas pumps.

“Everybody has concerns about Buc-ee’s, but that doesn’t concern me as much as this subdivision,” said Smiths Grove Mayor David Stiffey. “Hedge Street is not even a full two-lane street. There are a lot of issues with where it’s at.”

And with its size. Smiths Grove had a population of 752 in the 2020 U.S. Census, so a subdivision of this magnitude and density will tax city resources even if the property isn’t annexed.

The development plan put together by the Scottsville-based Lautieri Enterprises LLC headed by Anthony Lautieri calls for putting 3.5 houses per acre on the property that is now agricultural acreage.

The proposed 265 houses will each have at least 1,250 square feet of living space and two-car garages. The quality of the residences, though, is less of a concern than the quantity.

“I knew that one day there would be some houses over there, but not that many,” said Larry Shobe, who lives directly across Hedge Street from the proposed development. “There aren’t that many houses in the city of Smiths Grove.”

Landing such a residential development in northern Warren County seems logical based on the explosive growth in employers in the nearby Kentucky Transpark industrial park, but Stiffey isn’t sure his small city is ready for it.

The traffic impact on Hedge Street is one concern, and Stiffey said there are also issues with getting adequate water and sewer service to the site.

“There are a lot of questions that haven’t been answered,” he said.

Shobe and some of his neighbors will be hoping to get some answers at Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. meeting.

“I am planning to be there,” Shobe said, “and I know I’m not the only one who doesn’t like it (the subdivision). I expected changes with Buc-ee’s coming in. Growth is coming, but I’m not too happy about it.”

The application to rezone the Lautieri Enterprises property from agriculture to single-family residential will be decided Thursday by the four Warren County representatives on the planning commission (Amy Drane, Tim Graham, Rick Starks and Christiaan Volkert) and Smiths Grove representative Debbie Richey.

The same five members of the 12-member commission will hear the application of the Warren County Board of Education to rezone 30 acres on the west side of Hedge Street and near West Third Street from agriculture to public.

The school board’s goal for the land is to build an elementary school to replace the existing North Warren Elementary on College Street, but that is a long-term goal.

Chris McIntyre, Warren County Public Schools chief financial officer, said the school system’s next building project will be a new elementary school on Dillard Road.

McIntyre explained that a new North Warren building is one of a number of possible future building projects. The school board owns acreage along Nashville Road south of Buchanon Park and along Scottsville Road near Dye Ford Road.

Those properties could be developed before the Smiths Grove acreage, depending on need.

“We purchased the property in Smiths Grove, and we’re going through the rezoning process,” McIntyre said. “It’s a formality to be more prepared for when we do go forward with the project.”