Bowling Green planning staff report 2024 permit gains; rental registration shows ~99% compliance

Heather (last name not specified), a member of the Bowling Green planning department, and Senior Planner Chase Fletcher presented the department's 2024 annual report to Bowling Green City Council and described results from the city's rental registration and inspection program.

Heather said the planning office saw increases across several permit categories, telling council, "Our zoning permits did increase about 16% between '23 and '24. Our new dwelling units, the permits issued increased 39.5." She said 2024 was the department's strongest year for new housing starts in the past decade.

Chase Fletcher summarized the rental registration program's 2024 outcomes: "We ended the year with 7,280 total registered rental dwelling units. We had 7,170 inspections submitted." He said the department currently showed about 99% compliance with the ordinance and described the operational work behind inspections and the registration portal.

Nut graf: The report framed local building and housing activity as part of a larger planning agenda: increased permits and housing starts, higher zoning board and planning commission workloads, and active code enforcement alongside a large-scale rental inspection effort that staff said has found and spurred repair of wiring, smoke-detector, plumbing and structural problems.

Body: The planning presentation included district-level permit breakdowns and enforcement outcomes. Heather said fences remained the most frequent permit type across multiple residential zones; the department issued 102 fence permits in 2024 compared with 92 in 2023. She reported new construction and accessory dwelling activity: "new construction was highest in 2024 at 53 buildings compared to 32 at this time last year," and a 10-year comparison showed 2024 with the largest count of new dwelling units at 48.

The Historic Preservation Commission, Heather said, designated its first local historic district (North Maple Street), published historic-building features and installed 16 historical signs after receiving an $18,000 Certified Local Government grant.

Fletcher described the rental registration workload and enforcement data in detail: 7,280 registered rental dwelling units; 7,170 inspections submitted; 106 pending inspections (with 4 planned for removal from self-inspection); 67 failed inspections (43 subsequently repaired; 24 remain in follow-up); 74 property-transfer screening notifications; 139 first/second/third notices for compliance; and 18 city-attorney notifications. He said landlords had generally given positive feedback, and staff planned a more user-friendly registration portal in collaboration with GIS.

On tenant concerns, Fletcher said complaints generally come through the city's "report a concern" system; he emphasized the city ordinance does not require fees and that any charges between landlords and tenants are private arrangements: "the ordinance does not stipulate any type of required charges. That's really a tenant-landlord issue." The planning office and Wood County partners (fire and health departments) assisted with inspections and complaint follow-up.

The presentation included enforcement photos and a listing of common code deficiencies (peeling paint, exposed wiring, missing smoke detectors, roof and foundation work). Heather said the department resolved about 86% of the 148 complaints it logged in 2024 (128 resolved) and that exterior housing evaluation surveys by the county health department are scheduled every five years.

Ending: Council did not take formal action on the report; staff asked council members to note the printed annual report and the department's ongoing initiatives (downtown alleyway project, Safe Routes to School/shared-use path from Crim to Carter Park) as projects that will continue into 2025.