Growth along the Plano Road corridor, already moving at a fast clip, may have just hit a new gear.

The City-County Planning Commission of Warren County will hear a rezoning application Thursday that involves putting as many as 300 single-family homes and another 300 apartments on 82 acres near Scottsville Road and across Plano Road from Countrywood Place subdivision and Shady Grove apartments.

The proposed development along the two-lane Plano Road (Ky. 622) is on property owned by Greenwood Crossings Inc. of Bowling Green and Natcher Parkway Holdings LLC of Venice, Fla., according to planning commission documents. The developers are Rodney Rogers, president of Bowling Green’s Stewart-Richey Construction, and Renee Isaacs.

The application calls for 49.56 acres to be rezoned from agriculture to single-family residential and an adjoining 32.45 acres to be rezoned from agriculture to townhouse/multi-family residential.

While many Plano residents view the development as inevitable and only the latest step in changing the face of the rural community, they still have reservations.

“It’s a big ol’ lot that we knew at some point would be developed,” Plano resident Rick Malek said. “We had heard that several big stores were interested in the site, so I’m not so sure that residential development is bad compared to what could have been.”

While Plano will be spared having a major retailer on the site near the William H. Natcher Parkway interchange, Malek and others are still concerned about the impact of putting more homes and apartments along the road.

“One hundred percent of my concern is traffic flow,” Malek said. “They can put whatever they want on it, but traffic is a concern for me. The proposed access for the apartment complex is directly across from another apartment complex. Without an expansion of Plano Road or putting a traffic light there, it will be a nightmare.”

Another Plano resident, Sharon Clark, was a bit more candid in expressing her opposition to the development.

“It’s all about tax dollars and putting money in politicians’ pockets,” she said. “Nobody seems to care about the traffic we have to deal with. They just want to develop the land and improve the tax base.”

Clark said improvements to Plano Road need to be made before developments like this one are approved.

“We’re trying to grow too fast with these developments,” Clark said. “They should’ve started with improving the road first.”

Plano resident Sherry Denton agreed, saying: “They’re putting the cart before the horse. That road needs to be widened before developing the property. We know that growth is going to happen, but I don’t agree with the approach being taken.”

The rezoning application includes some concessions from the developer to address transportation issues.

According to planning commission documents, the Traffic Impact Study for this development was waived by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the Bowling Green Department of Public Works with a commitment from the developer to establish a right-hand turn lane and a left-hand turn lane onto Plano Road at each entrance to the development.

“With any large development like this, the developer comes to us and wants to know what they need to do to meet our requirements,” said Joe Plunk, chief engineer for the Transportation Cabinet’s District 3 office in Bowling Green. “The developer has committed to making the improvements we suggested.”

If approved by the planning commission and the Bowling Green City Commission, the development will have as many as 300 residential lots on the 49.56-acre portion. The binding elements indicate that the homes will have a minimum of 1,000 square feet of living space and an attached one-car garage.

The apartment development on the 32.45-acre portion calls for a maximum of 300 total apartments and a maximum of 16 units per building.

While the Plano Road application is the largest proposed development on the planning commission’s Thursday agenda, another rezoning application could lead to a 232-lot subdivision being developed on 53 acres at 654 John D. Jones Road near the Russellville Road intersection with Natcher Parkway.

The planning commission meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday in the Bowling Green City Commission chambers on College Street.