Kennesaw City Council delayed discussing a developer’s plan to build apartments, townhouses, offices and retail shops on the outskirts of downtown.
That’s because when the city’s planning commission voted to advance those plans to City Council on Nov. 3, the advisory committee didn’t have a quorum to meet. Now the project must go back before the planning commission for a new vote.
“Anything that was handled Nov. 3 will be a do-over,” Kennesaw Zoning Administrator Darryl Simmons told council members during a work session Monday night. “We’re going to re-advertise, we’re going to repost and we will bring it back to the planning commission on Dec. 1 and Dec. 20 for the mayor and council.”
Bulldog Acquisitions, an Atlanta developer, intends to build 318 apartments, 44 townhouses and as much as 35,000 square feet of retail and commercial office space on 19 acres of industrial land along Main Street.
The developer is asking city officials to rezone the property as a central business district to allow for the mixed-use project.
Council members were scheduled to discuss the project Monday night, but the timeline got pushed back because of the hiccup at the planning commission.
Simmons explained that only three planning commission members were on the dais during the Nov. 3 meeting. Three other members were absent, meeting minutes show. Vice chairwoman Cindi Michael ran the meeting via Zoom, but she was not physically present.
The planning commission OK’d the rezoning by a 2-1 vote with Michael abstaining. Kennesaw’s legal team reviewed meeting procedures and determined her virtual presence didn’t meet open meeting standards for the city.
Mayor Derek Easterling removed the project from City Council’s upcoming meeting planned for Monday night.
Credit: Matt Bruce
Credit: Matt Bruce
“We can’t even open the floor for a public hearing because it didn’t meet open meeting criteria,” the mayor said.
The development will be built on the grounds of a manufacturing plant, which Bulldog intends to transform into a walkable community. It will feature interconnected trails and pathways, and Gateway Park will be extended further south to connect the property to Kennesaw’s downtown.
Site plans for the mixed-use project show the apartments will be built atop a ground level of 5,000 to 10,000 square feet of office space designed for small businesses like local attorneys and insurance companies. The multi-family building will be four stories and feature one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments ranging from 700 to 1,500 square feet.
The townhomes will be built along Duncan Drive at the north end of the property. Up to 25,000 square feet of retail space for restaurants and breweries will be carved out to front Main Street.
Developers say construction could begin midway through next year and is estimated to be completed in mid-2024.
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