By Rebecca Gaunt

Plans for a new public safety facility to house the Kennesaw Police Department at 3080 Moon Station Road are moving forward with the approval of an architectural contract between the city, Croy Engineering and Croft & Associates.

[Correction: an earlier version of this article omitted the name of architecture and design firm Croft & Associates. We regret the error]

The City Council approved the contract Wednesday for $73,690. Croy Engineering and Croft & Associates will develop a program document to capture the goals of the facility which will guide the schematic design. The contract also includes the site plan, floor plan, exterior elevations, 3D rendering, and a design narrative for civil, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing.

Voters approved the project as part of the 2022 SPLOST.

To save on commercial property costs, the new facility will be built on city-owned land next to the public works building, which is also being renovated and expanded using federal funds from the American Rescue Plan. Croy is the engineering firm for that project too.

Both construction projects will relieve crowded working conditions at City Hall on J.O. Stephenson Avenue, which is undergoing renovations of its own.

In other business:

Following the third required public hearing, Council approved an amendment to the city charter regarding the process for appeals in Part 1, Article VI. The change is to comply with an amendment by the state legislature to Chapter 3, Title 5 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated.

Georgia House Bill 916 took effect on July 1. Its intention is to create a “unified procedure for appealing decisions of a lower judicatory to a superior or state court…”

The city also granted a 20-foot sanitary sewer easement to Cobb County Water System in Depot Park. It contains an existing sewer line from Cherokee Street to Depot Park Tunnel.

Rebecca Gaunt earned a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia and a master’s degree in education from Oglethorpe University. After teaching elementary school for several years, she returned to writing. She lives in Marietta with her husband, son, two cats, and a dog. In her spare time, she loves to read, binge Netflix and travel.