The City-County Planning Commission of Warren County voted unanimously Thursday to recommend to the Bowling Green City Commission zoning changes and variances that pave the way for the citys first four-year medical school.

Med Center Health plans to build a two-story building at The Medical Center at Bowling Green campus to be used as medical office space and also for medical education. It also plans an 833-vehicle parking garage.

The five-story parking garage is planned to be built on the current site of the emergency medical services building. A two-story, 48,000-square-foot building would be adjacent to the parking garage, according to Jean Cherry, executive vice president at Med Center Health.

The demolition of the current emergency medical services building is slated for mid- to late April, Cherry said last week.

The EMS will be moved to a vacant building at 210 E. Third Ave. and the heliport will be relocated.

The closing of a 50-foot right of way along U.S. 31-W By-Pass would allow Med Center Health to consolidate that land with adjoining property. The right of way to be closed abuts property owned by Med Center Health.

Med Center Health will also build a pedestrian walkway connecting the newly constructed medical office space to the Riverside Professional Center.

The plan is to extend Second Street to where it connects with U.S. 31-W. Bowling Green Municipal Utilities is reserving a utility easement along the unnamed right of way, said Planning Commission Executive Director Ben Peterson on Thursday.

A medical school partnership between the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, The Medical Center and Western Kentucky University is intended to help alleviate a physician shortage in the region, allow WKU faculty access to medical research opportunities, demonstrate a community commitment to smart growth and help keep the areas best and brightest in Warren County. The medical degree will be conferred by UK, and a certain number of slots in the local program will be available first to WKU students.

The UK College of Medicine initiative which in eastern Kentucky also includes a similar partnership between St. Clair Regional Medical Center, Kings Daughters Medical Center and Morehead State University is scheduled to begin here in 2018 with 30 students.

In another matter, the planning commission recommended a plan by Legacy Built Homes LLC to build 35 multi-family units on about 2.36 acres on Shannon Drive, bounded by Trent Way and Delmar Court. There will be five two-story buildings, with seven units to a building.

Shannon Drive homeowner Judy Walker objected to the project.

There will be a bottleneck of traffic that will be unbelievable, Walker said. It will change the way that the neighborhood is.

Walker also said she was concerned about the possible declining value of her home of 40 years.

Ive looked at an empty lot for 40 years, she said.

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Four-year medical school moves step closer - Bowling Green Daily News