By Rebecca Gaunt

Nikki McGraw has been promoted to the position of 911 director for the cities of Kennesaw and Acworth.

City Manager Jeff Drobney made the recommendation, which was unanimously approved by Kennesaw City Council Monday.

The previous director, Ryan Solis, took a position with the city of Atlanta 911 Emergency Services. According to Drobney, the city has been conducting interviews for the position for the past two months.

“What a great day it is when we can promote from within and have somebody of Nikki’s caliber, not only step in on an interim role, but in the permanent role,” Drobney said.

McGraw has worked for more than 20 years in emergency services.

“I’m ready to take this department and go with it – get our team up and going,” McGraw told the Council.

Main Street Rezoning

The application for a rezoning request from Bulldog Acquisitions, LLC for 2652 South Main Street was postponed. It will go before the Planning Commission on Nov. 3 and the City Council Nov. 15.

The developers are requesting the 19-acre property be rezoned from light industrial to central business district. The project plans for a mixed-use development with 65 for-sale townhomes, 385 multi-family apartments, up to 10,000 square feet of commercial space wrapped around a three-story parking deck, a detached retail building up to 25,000 square feet, and interconnected trails and pedestrian walkways.

Bulldog Acquisitions also submitted three variance requests to reduce parking from the required 1.75 spaces per unit to 1.4, and to reduce the average floor area of residential units from 1,000 square feet to 875 square feet. For one-bedroom units, developers want to reduce the minimum square footage 850 to 600 square feet.

The postponement comes at the recommendation of the Planning Commission and Zoning Administrator Darryl Simmons so the applicant can work out the amount of parking and apartment sizes, as well as incorporate feedback from neighbors.

The developer held two informational meetings for the public, one virtual and one at City Hall. Several attendees mentioned concerns about traffic and pedestrian safety on Duncan Drive. According to the developer, there are plans to widen the road and install sidewalks.

The developer also said the townhomes will likely start in the $350,000s and construction is planned to start in June 2022.