A new Warren County elementary school meant to ease overcrowding at schools in the southern end of the county moved closer to reality Thursday.

The City-County Planning Commission of Warren County, meeting in the county courthouse, voted 6-0 to approve rezoning 20 acres owned by the Warren County Board of Education at the intersection of Dillard Road and Bettersworth Road from agriculture to public.

It was the final step needed to begin work on a planned 125,000-square-foot school building projected to cost $38.5 million and be open in August of 2026.

“We should start moving dirt in mid-October,” said Chris McIntyre, chief financial officer for Warren County Public Schools. “This building will have the same footprint as Rich Pond Elementary and the new Warren Elementary School being built.”

The Dillard Road school, which will have a capacity of 850 students, is desperately needed in one of Kentucky’s fastest-growing areas. It’s near a dense residential area, with the Claiborne Farms and The Summit subdivisions located nearby and an 84-lot single-family housing development being built across Dillard Road from the school site.

Rich Pond Elementary, opened in 2022 to replace an aging school building, also has a capacity of 850 students but already has more than 900 students.

“That 850 figure is basically what the state looks at as the capacity, but Rich Pond is able to accommodate a little more than what the state quantifies as capacity,” McIntyre said.

Other elementary schools in the southern part of the county, such as Plano, Lost River, Jody Richards and Natcher, are also experiencing rapid growth.

Because of that growth, McIntyre said the school system is actively “discussing other property acquisitions.”

WCPS has property near the Upton Farms development in the Alvaton area, as well as acreage in Smiths Grove and Oakland that could be used for new schools; but acreage that the school system had been eyeing along Nashville Road may not be able to be used for a new school.

Real estate developer David Chandler last year was approved for rezoning an 85-acre site south of Buchanon Park that was to be home to more than 600 housing units, an elementary school and some commercial developments.

But, McIntyre said, that development has been paused because of infrastructure costs.

“It doesn’t look like it’s going to come to fruition,” he said.

In addition to the Dillard Road rezoning, the planning commission on Thursday approved the application of the Southern Queen by Bell Vue LLC headed by Desmond Bell to rezone from light industrial to general business the 0.58-acre site at 136 and 140 State Street that is home to the historic Southern Queen hotel building.

The city of Bowling Green deeded the property to Bell earlier this year, and now he has plans to resurrect the defunct property that was once a premier hotel that catered to Black travelers during segregation.

“I plan to re-open it as a boutique hotel,” Bell said. “It will have six suites, and it will cater to traveling nurses coming to local hospitals.”

Bell’s development plan for the property also includes building a three-unit multi-family residential structure and keeping an existing single-family home.

Also approved at Thursday’s meeting:

•The application of Darrell Oliver of Custom Design Build LLC to amend the development plan for 15.8 acres in the Pleasant Grove subdivision on Collingwood Court so that he can increase the number of residential lots from 13 to 14.

•Luke Townsend’s application to rezone from agriculture to residential estate 1.5 acres at 697 Kelly Harris Road so he can create an additional building lot.