A proposed 304-unit apartment complex along Three Springs Road that has met resistance from local residents is heading for a hearing before the Kentucky Court of Appeals, while a 100-home subdivision at Matlock and Long roads may be cleared to move forward.

Both developments had their rezoning applications recommended for denial last year by the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County only to be approved by the local legislative bodies. Residents near the two proposed developments appealed those decisions to circuit court.

Warren Circuit Judge Steve Wilson in May upheld decisions by Warren County Fiscal Court in the Matlock Road rezoning and the Bowling Green City Commission in the Three Springs Road case.

Now, despite facing a possible requirement to post a bond of up to $100,000, the attorney representing the Three Springs Road residents said Monday that he was filing an appeal of Wilson’s ruling.

“We feel like we have a good case because the planning commission voted in our favor,” said Louisville attorney Stephen T. Porter, who represents a group of Three Springs-area residents led by Denise and Verlin Cossel.

“That gives us something to hang our hat on,” Porter said. “I don’t think the city gave a good reason for overruling the planning commission.”

Porter was filing the appeal Monday in Warren Circuit Court, but the case will go to the Kentucky Court of Appeals in Frankfort.

The city of Bowling Green and developers Tim Poston and George Vogler of Bowling Green’s GVTP Developments are named as defendants.

Poston and Vogler are proposing to develop a 33-acre tract between Silver Springs subdivision and the KOA campground across from Basil Griffin Park into a 304-unit apartment complex.

Residents in and around the Silver Springs subdivision argued that the development would create traffic and water runoff problems.

At a planning commission meeting in July, the application to rezone the property from agriculture to multi-family residential was rejected in a 6-4 vote.

The city commission, however, gave the project unanimous approval after first voting to annex the property.

The appeal of that decision was unsuccessful as Wilson ruled that Kentucky Revised Statute 100.211 grants a legislative body the authority to review recommendations from the planning commission and to override those recommendations.

Porter and his clients don’t believe that is adequate reason for overturning the recommendation of the planning commission. The attorney said his clients wanted to continue the case to the court of appeals despite possibly having to post a bond of up to $100,000.

“It will be up to the city of Bowling Green if they want to ask for that,” Porter said. “If they ask for it, we’ll contest it.”

Porter also represents a group opposed to the proposed single-family development on Matlock Road. That 46-acre subdivision proposed by the same GVTP Developments met with resistance from local residents concerned about increased traffic on narrow Matlock Road and encroachment on the rural neighborhood. It was recommended for denial by a 7-4 vote at a June planning commission meeting.

Fiscal court, in a 3-2 vote with Magistrate Tony Payne abstaining, approved in August rezoning the property from agriculture to single-family residential.

The Matlock Road residents appealed to Wilson, who upheld the fiscal court decision, but now they’re not willing to take their case to the higher court.

“That group of neighbors just decided that they didn’t want to go forward with the case,” Porter said.

That could mean development of that subdivision could start soon, according to the attorney for GVTP Developments.

“The developers are ready to move,” attorney Mark Alcott said after Wilson’s ruling. “This appeal has delayed us a good six or seven months.”

The Three Springs Road apartment development will face further delays as the case moves to the court of appeals.

“The other side now has a chance to weigh in,” Porter said. “We’ll set up a schedule for briefings, and we’ll have a pre-hearing conference to see if there’s any way to settle the case.”