The only fireworks at Thursday’s Board of Adjustments of Warren County meeting were on the conditional use permit application submitted by Western Spirits, and that suits that company’s president just fine.

Saying it “was understandable” that some residents near the building close to Henry F. Moss Middle School were concerned about language that mentioned storage of explosives and ammunition, Western Spirits President Tim Livesay left the meeting with his plans intact to continue riding the boom in bourbon sales.

Despite protests from a couple of residents, the board passed the conditional use permit in a 7-0 vote, clearing the way for Western Spirits to begin storing barrels of bourbon and whiskey in a 40,000-square-foot building at 2520 Russellville Road.

The application was for storing up to 28,000 barrels of bourbon and whiskey in the building that has been used as an American Freight furniture retailer. But storage of such barrels is lumped in with explosives and ammunition in the zoning ordinances, thus raising some concerns.

“It’s unfortunate that we fall into that category in the zoning ordinance,” said Jeff Arnold of Arnold Consulting Engineering, who is working with Western Spirits.

After the unanimous approval, Livesay explained that his company owns the building and had been leasing it to American Freight. Western Spirits, a bottler of bourbon, flavored whiskey and vodka, has been using a storage facility in Bardstown, but that storage agreement is expiring, prompting the need to turn the Russellville Road furniture store into a storage building for the wooden bourbon barrels.

Those barrels, once the product is ready, will be shipped to the Western Spirits bottling plant on Three Springs Road for production of such brands as Bird Dog Whiskey and Calumet Farm bourbon.

“We launched the business in October 2009,” Livesay said. “Bourbon has become trendy and sales have grown. We’re selling in all 50 states now.”

Trendy or not, the Western Spirits application caught the attention of local residents William Traugott and Jean Baglan.

Traugott, whose father lives near the building, said his main concern was the proximity to Moss Middle School and the Jennings Creek Elementary School being built nearby.

“I question the wisdom of storing anything flammable close to schools,” he said. “I would be concerned about a lightning strike or someone setting a fire.”

Baglan expressed stronger opposition, bringing up the 1996 Heaven Hill Distillery fire in Bardstown that destroyed several buildings and 90,000 barrels of whiskey.

“There’s no way they can guarantee that this won’t catch on fire,” Baglan said. “Heaven Hill was struck by lightning and caught fire. A spark from a truck, a forklift or anything could start it.”

Arnold said the comparison to Heaven Hill isn’t valid.

“In the Heaven Hill fire, there were no sprinklers,” he said. “There have been two fires in whiskey storage facilities in the last 20 years, and both didn’t have sprinklers. We have talked to distilleries in Louisville and Bardstown, and they told us they have had no fires with sprinkler systems in place.”

In addition to the Western Spirits approval, the board of adjustments approved an amended conditional use permit for New Life Church and First Assembly of God church to operate a day care facility on property owned by New Life Church.

The original permit application, which was submitted in May, called for operating child care facilities at eight properties on Newton Avenue and Oliver Street near New Life Church on Scottsville Road.

Action on the application was tabled after one local resident and some of the seven board members raised questions about the logistics of operating the child care centers in the various buildings.

The application presented Thursday limited the application to five buildings on Newton Avenue that will share a common sidewalk and will be fenced in. It was approved unanimously.

With that approval out of the way, New Life Church Business Administrator Bonita Sherwood said: “We’ll start immediately on making the necessary improvements to the property.”

Sherwood said the church will start with the building at 1565 Newton Ave., which will be a day care for infants. She hopes to have it open before fall.

“We’ve had numerous calls (about the day care),” she said. “The need for infant care in Bowling Green is critical.”

The plans on the conditional use permit application call for the first building to have a capacity of eight children and for all five buildings to have a capacity of 52 children.

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.