Residents of Whispering Hills subdivision off Russellville Road will likely soon have a pharmacy in their midst, and few of them are happy about it.

After hearing about changes in a rezoning application for the pharmacy that was tabled in the face of heavy opposition in June, the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County deadlocked Thursday before two commissioners changed their votes and passed the measure on a second roll call.

Commissioner Dean Warren’s motion to approve rezoning a 0.2397-acre lot at Russellville Road and Whispering Hills Boulevard from multifamily residential to general business in order for Alaa Tlais to develop the property as a pharmacy resulted in a 5-5 vote.

After planning commission attorney Hamp Moore advised the commissioners that a tie vote can be reconsidered and voted on again for up to 30 days, Commissioner Greg Gay made the same motion. Commissioners Tim Graham and Albert Rich switched from “no” to “yes,” and the rezoning passed 7-3.

“This was a dilemma, one that I wish I didn’t have to hear,” Graham said after the vote. “The decision we had to make was: Do we move this piece of property forward or let it continue to be a vacant lot?

“I thought he (Tlais) addressed as many issues as he could address. I still had some concerns about the flow of traffic. But I don’t see it ever being developed as residential. If you look down Russellville Road, most everything is already commercial. At least now you’ll have a pharmacy that could help the neighborhood.”

Graham and Rich were joined in approving the application by Gay, Warren, Mary Belle Ballance, Velma Runner and Sandy Clark. Tim Huston, India Unseld and Mary Vitale voted no.

The commissioners also passed, in a 6-4 vote, two variances on the Tlais property, one of 30 feet from the required 40-foot rear yard setback and a second of 80 feet between a pickup window and the nearest residence.

Although the action still must go to the Bowling Green City Commission for final approval, Tlais was elated with the outcome.

“We were having this meeting to address the concerns that were brought up before,” said Tlais, who lives in Bowling Green but has been working out of town. “I believe we did.”

Tlais agreed to change the maximum building height from 30 feet to 20, change the construction materials from 50 percent brick and masonry to 70 percent, and change the size of the pharmacy’s sign from 150 square feet to 50. He also agreed to construct a privacy fence at the rear of the property and to construct curbing to prevent patrons from turning left on Whispering Hills Boulevard.

He said he decided to build his pharmacy adjacent to the residential area largely because the cost of commercial properties he looked at were “outrageous.”

“I believe a town like Bowling Green should encourage local businesses,” Tlais said. “This (pharmacy) will be convenient for many of the people who were here tonight opposing it.”

Based on the dozen or so Whispering Hills residents who turned out Thursday, Tlais still has some convincing to do.

Wilson Wickerham, whose property is adjacent to the proposed pharmacy, was not happy with the planning commission’s decision.

“The commission missed the mark tonight,” he said. “They showed no concern for the neighborhood.”

Addressing the commissioners before the vote, Wickerham said: “I have respect for Tlais, but that particular lot should be residential. I can’t believe you’d allow a commercial business to be located 40 feet from a residential area. It’s bound to be a vacant building at some point.”

Both commissioners and residents expressed concerns about the adequacy of parking on the property and the flow of traffic on Russellville Road and Whispering Hills Boulevard.

“The biggest thing with this project is safety,” said James A. Williams, who lives on Meadowbrook Circle. “It’s going to be tough for people going west to turn into his drug store. This will definitely adversely affect our subdivision.”

Tlais said he has no timetable in mind for getting the pharmacy built, but he said he “has a contractor in mind.”

In other action, commissioners approved the application of Cecil and Sharon Jenkins and Frances Naegel to rezone 2.5 acres at 1347 Woodburn-Allen Springs Road from agriculture to residential estate in order to develop the property with a maximum of two single-family residential lots. That rezoning will go to Warren Fiscal Court for final approval.

Also approved was an application by the Western Kentucky University Student Life Foundation to close about 0.09 acres of an unimproved right of way bounded by Park Street, High Street, Cabell Drive and East 14th Avenue as well as 0.18 acres of unimproved right of way that is a portion of East 15th Avenue off High Street. The right-of-way closings, needed to accommodate a commuter parking lot at WKU, will go to the Bowling Green City Commission for final approval.