Freight carrier AAA Cooper Transportation has moved a step closer to setting up shop in Bowling Green.

The Dothan, Alabama-based company, which announced in January plans to establish a 20-employee, $13.2 million facility in the city, has now been approved for the rezoning needed to turn those plans into reality.

The City-County Planning Commission of Warren County, meeting March 6, approved the application of AAA Cooper Transportation and property owner Robert Coleman of Platinum Development LLC to rezone from agriculture to light industrial 15.8 acres along Whitney Drive near Russellville Road.

Plans call for the freight carrier to build a 16,000-square-foot industrial building with semi-truck parking on the property that is near the Southwest Parkway that connects to the Southcentral Kentucky Industrial Park.

Citing the “unlimited opportunities” in the fast-growing Bowling Green region, AAA Cooper Transportation CEO Charlie Prickett said in a news release: “We are excited to establish our latest service center addition in the Bowling Green area.”

AAA Cooper Transportation, a subsidiary of Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings, is a multi-regional transportation solutions provider. It offers less-than-truckload, dedicated, port, and international freight transportation.

Founded in 1955, AAA Cooper now operates more than 70 terminals, 3,000 tractors, and 7,000 trailers at locations in the Southeast and Midwest.

The rezoning becomes final three weeks after the planning commission’s 7-0 vote unless it is appealed to the Bowling Green City Commission.

In other action at the March 6 meeting, the planning commission approved unanimously a variance that clears the way for Verizon Wireless to erect a telecommunications (cell) tower on an Old Union Church Road site.

An application by Cellco Partnership and Verizon Wireless to build a cell tower on the property not far from Rich Pond Road and Interstate 65 was approved in November 2024, but the applicants were asked to alter the siting to better meet requirements for a setback from residential areas.

Verizon and Cellco had originally requested a variance of 670 feet from the required 1,000-foot setback. The latest application changed the tower location and reduced the distance of the variance being requested to 431 feet.

The new location now complies with the 1,000-foot setback from all residential properties, except for the residence located on the same property where the tower is to be located.

Also approved at the March 6 meeting was the application of Jennifer Sharber of Keeping It LLC for a conditional-use permit to operate a short-term rental on the property at 1244 Magnolia Street.