Growth in Bowling Green and Warren County construction activity has meant growth for the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County, the agency charged with overseeing land use and planning.

An audit report presented by Gilbert & Gilbert accounting firm of Glasgow at the Oct. 4 meeting of the planning commission illustrates the impact of that growth.

Thanks to a boost in application fees and construction review fees, the planning commission brought in $468,034 in fees during the fiscal year that ended June 30. Construction review fees alone brought in $344,355 in the last fiscal year, a big jump from the $133,400 brought in for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

That trend is in keeping with the growth in commercial and residential construction activity in the county.

Planning commission records show that the number of single-family lots approved has exploded from 47 in 2012 to 1,121 in 2017, while multifamily unit approvals have swollen from 457 to 2,212 in that same period. Total applications submitted to the planning commission reached a record high of 261 in 2017, topping the record of 195 set the previous year.

“More volume of applications means more fees,” said Ben Peterson, the planning commission’s executive director. “We’re a little behind last year’s pace, but we’re ahead of 2016.

“Construction fees are up, and that enabled us to hire an additional employee. We were able to absorb most of that cost and catch up on equipment costs.”

The increase in fees allowed Peterson to create the new position of development specialist to oversee the new comprehensive design review process put in place this year. Eric Druen, previously a zoning compliance officer on the planning commission staff, moved into the development specialist role. The zoning compliance officer spot was filled by James Heady, increasing the planning commission staff from 14 to 15.

“In order to fund that position, we only asked for a $14,000 increase each from the city and county,” Peterson said. “We absorbed the rest with the increase in fees.”

All told, the planning commission reported total receipts of $2,681,719 – including $467,000 each from the city of Bowling Green and Warren County Fiscal Court – for the fiscal year ending June 30. With total disbursements for the year of $2,189,097, the planning commission was able to increase its cash balance from $686,452 to $1,179,074.

Peterson pointed out that construction review fees are “extremely hard to predict,” but he said the healthy cash balance puts the planning commission in position to make some needed capital improvements to its building on State Street.

“We held a little more in the capital fund than we normally do because we knew we had building needs,” Peterson said. “We’re looking at renovating the building we’re in or moving.”

Peterson expects to make that decision within a year.

“The planning commission has been here for 20 years, and the building has had one renovation,” he said.

Peterson said the financial health of the planning commission has allowed him to replace two of the three vehicles it uses and also upgrade some technology equipment.