Kennesaw HPC recommends conditional approval for eight-home project at 2785 Watts Drive

The Kennesaw Historic Preservation Commission on July 18 voted to recommend conditional approval of a Central Business District application to build eight detached dwelling units on about 0.363 acres at 2785 Watts Drive.

The commission’s vote followed a presentation by applicant Eric McConachie and architect Zach Rubin and more than an hour of technical review focused on scale, materials and site details. McConachie told the commission an earlier agreement with the city called for 10,000 square feet of commercial space on one of two original parcels, but that commercial tenants repeatedly withdrew over the past decade and the property had remained vacant, prompting the developer to propose housing now. "Our agreement with the city, if I recall, called for us to build 10,000 square feet of commercial," McConachie said.

Architect Zach Rubin said the conceptual elevation drawings omitted a numeric height callout but estimated the proposed three-story buildings would be "somewhere in the between 30 and…