Homes that would be demolished under a rezoning plan are seen on Kenton Street.

A lawsuit has been filed to try to stop the controversial effort to build contractor garages in a historically African American area of Bowling Green.

Two local residents and three Bowling Green churches are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was filed Dec. 18 in Warren Circuit Court. The lawsuit challenges a rezoning request from two-family residential to general business that the Bowling Green City Commission approved Nov. 19 by a 2-1 vote.

Carlos Bailey, one of the lawyers who filed the suit, said the “basis is a violation of due process” in the claim that area residents were not sufficiently alerted to what was proposed for the area of Kenton Street and Greenwood Alley. The suit also alleges that the commercial designation is not compatible with the county’s comprehensive plan.

Developer and lawsuit defendant Chris Robertson, who did not return a call seeking comment for this story, previously told the Daily News that he first planned to build residential units in the area, but that it was a business decision to instead seek a rezoning to build contractor garages. The other defendants listed in the suit are the Bowling Green City Commission and City-County Planning Commission.

Robertson’s CSR BG Investments has purchased all seven homes in question and plans to demolish them to make way for the contractor garages. Two of the homes are still occupied by renters. All the houses were occupied when Robertson purchased them, but as tenants moved out, he did not re-rent them in anticipation of their demolition.

While area residents would prefer to see the homes, which mostly date back to the 1940s, renovated and used as affordable housing, the contention came with the change of plans for the area, Bailey said.

“When (the plan) was for residential, everyone was OK with it,” he said. “Apartments would help revitalize the area, (but) contractor garages are a drastic change … it’s like light industry.”

Records from the City-County Planning Commission dated March 7 show the plans for the area had shifted from up to 26 housing units to the contractor garages, with a resulting request for a rezoning to commercial instead of multifamily residential, as had been first proposed.

When the commercial rezoning request was presented to planning commissioners Sept. 19, when it was recommended for approval 8-0, several area residents spoke against it. Several also spoke in opposition at the two city commission meetings where the rezoning was discussed, saying the rezoning would lead to a decrease in affordable housing and was not compatible with the area, among other concerns.

The first time the request was presented Nov. 5, it was actually voted down by a 3-2 margin with commissioners Brian “Slim” Nash, Joe Denning and Dana Beasley-Brown voting no, and Commissioner Sue Parrigin and Mayor Bruce Wilkerson voting yes.

The second – and binding – vote, however, came Nov. 19 when it was approved 2-1. At that meeting, Denning, a former resident of the area, recused himself for a conflict of interest because his daughter had spoken against the rezoning. Nash was serving a four-week leave of absence stemming from a settlement with the Bowling Green ethics board after his May arrest on charges of public intoxication.

Numerous former area residents have said the seven homes slated to be demolished were the heart of a tight-knit African American community for decades with many notable residents.

The area “has historic value,” Bailey said, including being the first home of Denning – Bowling Green’s first African American police officer and first African American mayor.

The demolition of African American areas is a recurring issue in the city, Bailey said, citing the Jonesville area, which was demolished in the 1960s to make way for an expansion of Western Kentucky University, and portions of the Shake Rag neighborhood, among others.

But Bailey said this was ultimately not a racial issue:

“If this was going to be in your neighborhood, would you be OK with this?” Bailey said. “If your answer is no, then you shouldn’t be OK with it here.”

The Bowling Green/Warren County branch of the NAACP released a statement about the suit, saying in part that “the branch is concerned about the alleged violations and is carefully monitoring this case, especially as a number of its members are adversely impacted by the rezoning decision. The branch encourages that all zoning decisions be a result of a fair process that considers the needs and well-being of all residents – particularly those who are more vulnerable to the impacts of displacement.”

The plaintiffs in the suit, which asks that the rezoning be declared null and void, are area residents Deborah Anthony and Felicia Bland and three area churches: 11th Street Baptist Church, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and Seventh Street Baptist Church.