Cobb County commissioners are proposing lifting a moratorium that has lasted nearly two years on the construction of off-campus student housing later this month, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.
A county code now being proposed to commissioners concerns defining “purpose-built student housing,” and was first read to commissioners at the end of last month, according to the MDJ.
If the code is later approved, it would only effect Georgia’s third district, which includes the area surrounding Kennesaw State. The university has been working with commissioners recently to draft and revise documents relating to the code, according to the MDJ.
The code would require that any future off-campus student housing developments be built on at least three acres of land, built at a maximum of six stories and structured at least 50 feet from any surrounding property lines, and on-site parking must accommodate at least one parking space per apartment unit. According to the MDJ, the code also lays out other, specific requirements for off-campus student housing projects in the district.
According to the MDJ, county commissioners approved a suspension on the acceptance of applications for purpose-built student housing in the county to give the staff time to look at student housing that is already in place and conduct an apartment density study, looking at the number of students in the area along with the growing enrollment at KSU.
According to the MDJ, the moratorium has been extended several times since it was first approved in 2017 as it has worked to finish the studies. In its current state, it is set to expire on July 31.
In the meantime, KSU has worked with commissioners to help complete the studies, offering information on student housing within the university.
According to a 2018 Purpose-Built Student Housing Analysis document, nearly 5,000 of the more than 35,000 students that were enrolled at KSU in fall 2018 lived on either the Kennesaw or Marietta campus. The analysis also states that while the Marietta campus provides housing for a quarter of its students, the Kennesaw campus provides housing for approximately 13 percent of its students.
According to the document, KSU requires that freshmen attending classes at Marietta must live on campus, but that is not currently a requirement for the Kennesaw campus. The document states that KSU is considering many policy changes regarding housing, including requiring that freshmen on both campuses live on campus during their first year.
The document also states that the university is seeking to redevelop its current on-campus housing developments, and in doing so, plans to add additional apartment units to better serve its growing number of students.
According to the MDJ, the moratorium could be lifted before its expiration date on July 31 if the county code proposed to the commissioners gets approved. The earliest this could occur would be during the code’s final hearing and vote during a commissioner meeting on June 25.
