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On the corner of North Church and West Court streets, behind the Wood County District Public Library, lies a flat expanse of yellow dust which Library officials hope to convert to a parking lot.

Until the morning of Aug. 8, a two-story white historic home surrounded by hundred-year-old trees sat in this spot, shading the neighboring properties.

Now all that remains in the lot besides a few trees in the back corner is a sign bearing the name of the property’s owner, Robert Maurer, local real estate developer.

Residents of the homes adjacent to Maurer’s property said they were shocked on the morning of Aug. 8 to see crews demolishing the white house.

They were not told what was happening until early afternoon that day, when Library Director Elaine Paulette and Library Board President Scott McEwen met with residents to explain plans for expanded library parking.

‘We hope to purchase the property from Mr. Maurer and make an extended parking lot,’ said Kathy East, assistant library director, explaining that the Library agreed to purchase Maurer’s property for $150,000 if City Council passes a rezoning request.

Currently listed as R-2 Single-Family Residential, the lot must be rezoned as an I-1 Institutional lot before the Library can begin laying asphalt.

Seeking additional land for parking, the Library purchased the property in early August directly north of Maurer’s for $250,000 under the name of the Port Lawrence Title and Trust Co.

According to East, the Library purchased the property which includes the historic brick Muir house for the narrow segment of land next to the house that may be used for parking.

Pat Browne, who has lived for 38 years in a house adjacent to the lot that was leveled, believes the Library could find a better use for taxpayers’ money.

‘I just think it’s a misuse of the Library’s money to buy those lots and to spend money for a parking lot,’ she said. ‘I think we should spend it for books.’

But according to East, the Library probably does not have enough money to complete the parking lot. As a result, she said the Library may have to take out a loan in order to finish the project, if rezoning is approved.

Library officials hope to recover some money by selling or renting the Muir house, East said.

‘We understand that the Muir house is a historic home in Bowling Green and we would hope to either rent or sell the property the house is on,’ East said.

She added that the Muir house may sell faster if the thin strip of land the library needs for parking is removed from the total cost of the house.

According to East, the Library has always had trouble providing enough parking for patrons.

When the Library was renovated in 2003, the architect estimated the library would need between 100 and 150 parking spots.

The Library’s main parking lot has 53 spaces, including nine reserved for city employees.

Many city residents are frustrated that they knew nothing about the demolition until it had already begun, and feel they should have been given a chance to prevent what they see as a devastation of their neighborhood.

At Wednesday evening’s meeting of the City Planning Commission, several citizens explained their concerns about Maurer and the Library’s handling of the demolition.

Kim Layden, president of the Boom Town Preservation Society, said the Library and Maurer conducted the demolition poorly.

‘There is an established process for creating parking lots,’ said Layden, whose organization prevented the demolition of historic homes beside the Post Office in 2002. ‘Rezoning requests, public hearings and an informed public, followed by the necessary demolition, if approved. This process needs to be respected or Bowling Green will end up in a real mess.’

Planning Commission Chair Lester Barber suggested that the Commission recommend changes to Bowling Green’s demolition laws to prevent similar cases from happening in the future.

Barber said that people filing for demolition permits should be required to supply written reasons for demolition, and all immediate neighbors should be warned of the person’s demolition plans.

‘If the neighbors had been warned and they had that foreknowledge, they might have been able to do something about the impending demolition,’ Barber said. ‘They might have delayed it at the very least.’

But Library officials did not know when Maurer would demolish the house, East said.

‘It was not our decision nor our choice to take the house down,’ she said. ‘That was Mr. Maurer’s decision, and I don’t know that we knew when that was going to happen. I don’t know what we would have gained by talking to [residents] beforehand.’

Judy Conibear, who lives beside the flattened lot, knows what she would have gained from talks with the Library before the demolition a chance to save the trees and wildlife that lived in the lot.

‘We had a whole little ecological system here,’ Conibear said. ‘We would have all kinds of wildlife. In the winter, pheasants would come up and there would be things you would never think of being in the city lots of raccoons, possums, lots of birds.’

Conibear said she could only think of the loss of trees and wildlife as Maurer’s crews took down trees and bulldozed sandy dirt that made up part of a natural hill the neighborhood sits on. Conibear said roots of some trees were exposed, while other trees that grow in the back corner of the lot were partially buried by the displaced land.

She fears that the trees that still stand will die as a result of the land movement.

According to Maurer, it is a shame the trees surrounding the house had to be removed, but the house was in poor structural condition.

While he said he understands why the residents are upset, Maurer believes the Library is getting good deals for both properties.

‘There are folks that are concerned about how we did it,’ Maurer said. ‘I don’t honestly think the Library anticipated this much of an issue. The Library just plain needs more parking.’

Sophomore Annie Hull, who visits the Library about once a month, said she has had trouble finding parking.

‘During the weekday it’s not too bad, but during the weekend, it really is hard to find a spot,’ Hull said. ‘All of BG needs more parking. It’s not just the Library.’

It may be months before rezoning of the lots may be approved, however.

A public hearing is scheduled for the next Planning Commission meeting, which will be held on the first Wednesday in October.

At this meeting commission members will decide whether or not to recommend rezoning of the lot to City Council, which will make the final rezoning decision after another public hearing.

‘My guess is it will be a constant fight,’ Conibear said. ‘Even if we win this round, in another year or two, they’ll apply again.’

Whether or not the land is rezoned, Conibear says residents have lost something that cannot be replaced.

‘They can’t put back what we’ve lost, in terms of how they’ve disturbed things,’ she said. ‘Every time one of those trees dies, I know I’m going to feel sick. We talk about moving, just because I don’t want to sit here and watch it.’