Growth – and how to manage it responsibly – was the theme of the night Wednesday as the staff of the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County held a public meeting at the Warren County Public Library Bob Kirby Branch.

In a 2 1/2-hour meeting, Planning Commission Executive Director Ben Peterson laid out information on how the commission functions and presented some proposed changes to the 2030 Comprehensive Plan developed in 2012.

He also fielded questions and concerns from some 50 citizens who turned out.

“We have to update the Comprehensive Plan by state law every five years,” Peterson explained. “It’s a general blueprint for how the community should grow over the next 20 to 30 years.”

If present trends continue, managing the county’s growth will be a tall task. Peterson pointed out that Warren County’s population has grown by nearly 12,000 since 2010 and has now surpassed 125,000, a huge increase from a population of 92,522 in 2000.

Peterson and his staff take applications for zoning changes, many of which are tied to new residential developments brought about by that growth. The 12-member planning commission hears those applications and recommends approval or disapproval to Warren County Fiscal Court or Bowling Green City Commission.

Last year, the number of such applications reached a record level, Peterson said, and he projects another record this year.

“The question may no longer be if we want growth,” he said. “The question is to make sure the growth is in an appropriate context. It’s not just where we grow but how we grow.”

Toward that end, Peterson presented a few “tweaks” to the 2030 Comprehensive Plan.

One proposed change is to allow more mixed-use development so that some residential areas can be incorporated into what is now exclusively commercial.

“We would like to make provisions for more mixed use and be less mutually exclusive in zoning,” Peterson said. “As it is now, if something is zoned commercial, it is commercial only. We’re trying to change that.”

Peterson also proposed a change that would encourage more of what he called “conservation” subdivisions that would cluster homes closer together while preserving woods and meadows.

“It’s not something brand new,” Peterson said of the conservation idea. “It’s basically clustering the houses and leaving the rest of the land as a preservation easement.

“We want to encourage these types of subdivisions. The first step is to tweak the comprehensive plan to encourage more of that type of development, then we will look at revisions to our zoning ordinances.”

The conservation idea resonated with many in the audience.

“The most positive idea I heard was the conservation development concept,” said Ron Whitmore of Alvaton. “A lot of environmental issues could be mitigated, you could have plenty of green space, and it could be very attractive.”

Kristina Arnold, who lives on Peachtree Lane near Alvaton, expressed concerns about the growth along Scottsville Road but applauded the ideas presented by Peterson.

“I appreciate the idea that we have a comprehensive plan and are moving toward better planning,” she said. “My fear has been that we’ll have strip malls from Bowling Green to Scottsville. I would love to see the agricultural land preserved, and I like the conservation subdivision idea.”

Bowling Green City Commissioner Brian “Slim” Nash, on hand for Wednesday’s public meeting, said it was a great opportunity for citizens to hear how the planning process works while expressing their concerns.

“The complaint I hear most often is people saying they knew about a development too late to do anything about it,” Nash said. “It’s important to outline the various steps a developer must go through and educate the citizens about the process.

“Personally, I believe we have a wonderfully unique problem in our community’s history. There may be some concerns about how some developments are done, but I hear very few complaints about our growth. I believe many other communities around the state would like to have these problems.”

Peterson will repeat his presentation in abbreviated form at Thursday’s planning commission meeting in the Bowling Green City Commission chambers. He said the commission will consider adopting the proposed changes to the comprehensive plan in September.

Peterson and other planning commission staffers will have another public meeting Aug. 22 at Plano Elementary School to present information and take questions about plans for the Plano Road corridor from Scottsville Road to Ky. 240.