With hands in the air Tuesday like fans at a hip-hop concert, residents of Magnolia and Nutwood streets sent a clear message to the City-County Planning Commission about plans for rebuilding the community after the December tornadoes.

Asked for a show of hands by planning commission Executive Director Ben Peterson on the question of making their neighborhood all single-family, nearly all the three dozen or so residents in attendance threw their hands in the air, just because they do care.

They made it clear to Peterson that they care about protecting their long-established single-family neighborhood from encroachment by duplexes or other development that could have been allowed in parts of the area zoned for multi-family.

“After the tornado, we could see people kinda scouting things out,” said Natalie Pinerola, a Magnolia Street resident who helped organize the original community meeting in January. “There was some talk about duplexes.”

Such talk wasn’t welcomed in a neighborhood known for its bungalow-style homes, many of them dating back to the early 20th century.

That was made clear at that January meeting and clearer still at Tuesday’s follow-up meeting at Crossland Community Church, where Peterson heard thoughts both on “down-zoning” to single-family and on protecting the architectural integrity of the neighborhood.

“Building a couple of duplexes in our neighborhood is not going to solve the city’s housing problem,” said Pinerola, whose historic home is awaiting repairs after the tornado damage. “But it could damage the neighborhood.”

To avoid such damage, Pinerola and others organized the original meeting to learn about options for protecting their neighborhood from duplexes or replacement buildings with architectural styles not consistent with existing homes.

Their concerns led the Bowling Green City Commission to pass in February a 180-day moratorium on multi-family developments in tornado-affected areas.

That moratorium applies to the Magnolia/Nutwood area as well as to the Briarwood, Covington and Whispering Hills neighborhoods that were hit by the tornadoes and have held meetings with Peterson as well.

Now that he has heard from residents of all those neighborhoods, Peterson said plans are to move ahead with a planning commission-initiated rezoning that would change the multi-family zones in those areas to single-family.

Changes could be more extensive in the Nutwood/Magnolia area because of its unique architecture and the existence of some accessory dwelling units.

At the request of residents, Peterson included language that will allow for a second dwelling unit on properties along those streets. He also proposed on Tuesday creation of an architectural overlay district so any new construction will conform to existing architectural elements.

Support for the accessory dwelling unit was not as strong as that for the rezoning or overlay district, but Peterson said all three proposals will move on to a public hearing at the May 19 planning commission meeting.

“We’re moving forward (with all three proposals),” Peterson said. “At the public hearing, residents will be able to voice their opinions. If we need to remove that (accessory dwelling unit), we can.”

Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said he is glad to see the neighborhoods move closer to a resolution.

“It gives me satisfaction to see that our community can come together to resolve this,” Alcott said. “We heard from the communities and put the moratorium in place, but at some point you have to move forward from that.

“We asked the planning commission to come up with a plan, and that’s what they’re doing.”

Peterson said that approval by the planning commission in May should lead to consideration by the city commission at two meetings in June, meaning the rezonings would take place before the moratorium expires at the end of July.

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