Site plans in Georgia

What changes a site plan in Georgia

Five Georgia conditions shape the drawing before any local code is opened. Each one adds a line, a number or a review to the concept plan.

One acre of disturbance, or much less near water. A Land Disturbance Permit and NPDES coverage are required at 1.0 acre disturbed, for any disturbance in a common development (a subdivision platted after 1/1/2000), and for disturbance under 1 acre within 200 ft of state waters ^[1]. The three general permits, GAR100001 (stand alone), GAR100002 (infrastructure) and GAR100003 (common development), were reissued effective Aug 1, 2023 and run through July 31, 2028 ^[6]. The Notice of Intent fee is $80.00 per disturbed acre, split $40 to EPD and $40 to the Local Issuing Authority where a certified one exists ^[2]. Disturbed acreage is therefore a row in the site data table from the first sketch.

Buffers that are drawn before anything is engineered. O.C.G.A. 12-7-6 sets a 25 ft buffer along state waters, measured from wrested vegetation, a 50 ft buffer along trout streams and a 25 ft buffer along coastal marshlands ^[3]. Inside the 2,000 ft Chattahoochee corridor, the Metropolitan River Protection Act adds a 50 ft undisturbed buffer and a 150 ft impervious setback along the river and a 35 ft buffer along tributaries ^[7]. In a water supply watershed, the DNR Part 5 criteria (Rules 391-3-16) require 100 ft buffers on tributaries within 7 miles of an intake plus a 150 ft impervious setback, and septic drainfields may not sit in the setback ^[8]. Pads, drives and parking are laid out around these lines.

A regional review that can stall the local vote. Large projects are Developments of Regional Impact, administered by 12 Regional Commissions. A local government that fails to submit one risks its Qualified Local Government status, and a threshold discovered late stalls local action ^[9]. The threshold check belongs on the concept, because crossing a threshold adds a review before the county or city can act.

Seal thresholds written into statute. Construction documents for a single-story building up to 5,000 sq ft need no architect's seal, except assembly, educational, health care, correctional, hotel, lodging, multifamily and care occupancies, which need one at any size (O.C.G.A. 43-4-14) ^[4]. Engineering for works that could affect public health, safety or welfare must be sealed unless the completed cost is under $100,000 or the use is exclusively private or farm (O.C.G.A. 43-15-24) ^[10]. A 1987 Attorney General opinion holds that schools, auditoriums, buildings for mass assemblage and group housing are not exempt at any cost ^[11]. A Georgia hotel or apartment project always carries an architect of record.

A new code family from January 1, 2026. The DCA Board adopted the 2024 IBC, IRC, IMC, IFGC, IPC and ISPSC with Georgia Amendments, plus the 2023 NEC with Georgia Amendments, all effective January 1, 2026 ^[5]. Footprints, egress and accessible routes on a concept drawn under the earlier editions are checked against the new ones before submittal.

Approval layers: state, county and city

Georgia is a strong home-rule state operating inside a state-defined procedure. Land use power reaches counties and cities through the Constitution's home rule provisions and is exercised within the Zoning Procedures Law (O.C.G.A. Title 36, Chapter 66) and the Georgia Planning Act of 1989, which created the DCA planning framework and the DRI process ^[9].

Under O.C.G.A. 36-66, zoning decisions (adopting or repealing a zoning ordinance, text amendments and rezonings) are legislative acts reviewable in superior court ^[12]. The 2022 amendments (HB 1405) separated out quasi-judicial decisions: appeals of administrative decisions, variances, special administrative permits, special exceptions and conditional use permits. A quasi-judicial hearing needs at least 30 days' notice ^[13].

Counties govern unincorporated land and cities govern within their limits, so the first question on any Georgia site is which side of the line it sits on. Annexation moves that line. In Gwinnett, de-annexed property keeps its municipal zoning only where the county and city share a common zoning ordinance; otherwise a public hearing sets the zoning (UDO Sec. 200-90) ^[16].

The rezoning or special use permit is the legislative step that decides what may be built. The detailed development plan that follows is reviewed by staff against those conditions and the development regulations, which is why a preliminary plan that already meets the conditions moves faster through both.

Who prepares and seals what

Georgia separates drawing a plan from sealing it. Sealing work that someone else prepared, outside the registrant's direct daily supervisory control and without a thorough review, is misconduct under O.C.G.A. 43-15-22(d), and an architect may seal documents prepared under the architect's responsible control (O.C.G.A. 43-4-16) ^[17]. The preliminary site plan is the unsealed first draft; the sealed set is built on it by the client's engineer, architect and surveyor of record.

Local codes add to the state floor. Columbia County requires all design professionals to seal plans for multi-story buildings, single-story buildings over 5,000 sq ft, and educational, institutional or assembly occupancies; Augusta lists all Group A, E and I occupancies as needing an architect's seal; Macon-Bibb restates the $100,000 engineer threshold ^[21]. For the division of work in plain terms, see who prepares a site plan, where unsealed site plans are accepted and the site plan architect page.

Statewide overlays

Floodplain development follows each community's NFIP ordinance, and floodway encroachment needs a no-rise certification.

Top jurisdictions

Submittal portals differ by jurisdiction: Accela in Atlanta, Fulton, Cobb, Hall and Gainesville; Tyler EnerGov in Forsyth; CityView in Augusta and Cherokee; OpenGov in Effingham; SagesGov in Henry ^{[30, 31]}.

Gwinnett County carries the deepest published record. A pre-application meeting is required before a rezoning or special use application ^[18]. A Special Use Permit costs $1,000 for 0 to 5 nonresidential acres, plus $100 per concurrent variance or waiver and a $250 public notice sign; development plan review for 1.01 to 5 acres is $750, and the development permit is $150 per acre with a $1,000 minimum ^[32]. The Board of Commissioners limits its hearings to fourteen (14) rezonings and eight (8) special use permits a month, so a full docket moves hearing dates ^[18]. The model project at gas station and c-store, Gwinnett County walks one site through that path.

City of Atlanta. A Special Administrative Permit is required in all SPI districts, the BeltLine overlay, LW, MR, MRC, NC, I-Mix and Unified Development Plans before a building permit can be filed ^[33]. By code, initial SAP review should occur within 30 days of a complete application, though size and complexity can extend it ^[34]. In Midtown's SPI-16 district (Sec. 16-18P), the application carries elevation drawings of each exterior facade ^[35], and the director of the Office of Zoning and Development approves SAPs (Sec. 16-16A.009) ^[36]. The Atlanta metro page covers the city, Gwinnett and the suburban counties in more depth.

Asset registries

The recitals of the Hapeville ordinance state that the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District has mandated that all jurisdictions in its area implement the model car wash ordinance ^[44]. Asset detail sits on the RV park site plans in Georgia and gas station site plans in Georgia pages, with the national hubs for campgrounds, glamping, car washes, hotels, marinas, self storage and truck stops.

Timelines and bottlenecks

Small commercial plans in staff-review jurisdictions can clear a first review cycle quickly: Gainesville's civil and LDP review runs about 2 to 3 weeks, and Hall County reviews building plans in 14-day cycles ^[47]. Rezoning-dependent projects take longer: a rezoning is a legislative act under O.C.G.A. 36-66 ^[12], and quasi-judicial matters need at least 30 days' notice ^[13].

In unincorporated Gwinnett, recent case records run about 3 to 6 months from pre-application to the Board of Commissioners decision, and tablings commonly add 1 to 2 months ^{[48, 49]}. Completeness review takes up to 10 business days, notice runs at least 15 days before the Planning Commission hearing, and there is a 6-month bar on reapplication ^{[18, 50]}.

The resubmittal causes that recur across Georgia:

• ES&PC plan deficiencies (an uncertified designer, weak BMPs, missing 25 or 50 ft buffers) and an NOI filed less than 14 days before disturbance ^[22].
• State waters buffer encroachments found late, which need a DNR variance ^[23].
• GDOT access conflicts over driveway spacing, turn-lane warrants and sight distance ^[14].
• DRI thresholds crossed without a filing ^[9].
• Sewer capacity and will-serve letters, acute in coastal Bryan County during the Hyundai ramp.
• Parcels within 2,000 ft of the Chattahoochee that miss MRPA review ^[7].

Each item can be checked on the concept, before the engineer of record starts design.

Proof points

• Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, Bryan County. Part of a $7.59 billion Bryan County investment ($12.6 billion in Georgia) at Ellabell ^[51]. The plant will use up to 6.6 million gallons of water daily from four wells in Bulloch County ^[51]. Bryan County development review runs through a Development Review Committee, and its updated fee schedule took effect Jan 1, 2026 ^[30].
• Thompson Mill Village DRI, Hall County. Reviewed in April 2024: 939 senior residential units, 200 hotel rooms, 105,049 sq ft of general office, 254,200 sq ft of medical office, 364,218 sq ft of retail, a 10,000 sq ft bank and 50,000 sq ft of restaurant on a 110-acre site ^[52].
• Atlanta hotel supply. Metro Atlanta room count grew 1.2% in 2023 against 0.5% nationally ^[53].
• Gwinnett fuel record. SUP2024-00015 was denied on 6/25/2024 and SUP2025-00010 on 5/20/2025, both 5-0 ^{[49, 54]}.
• Demand. The 11-county Atlanta region reached 5,285,474 residents in 2025, and 29,482 residential building permits were issued there in 2024, led by the City of Atlanta (8,109) and Gwinnett (5,607) ^[55]. The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro grew from 6,106,816 to 6,482,182 between 2020 and 2025 ^[56], and Georgia ranked 9th nationally for homes authorized in 2024 ^[57].

What the preliminary plan carries in Georgia

A preliminary site plan from the studio is a detailed first draft of the project without the engineering layer: disposition, buildings and floor plans, internal roads and drive aisles, parking, pads and units, and the yield, organized with a site data table. In Georgia that table carries the rows reviewers ask about first: disturbed acreage against the 1.0 acre trigger, the state waters, MRPA or watershed buffers drawn on the plan, the DRI threshold check, GDOT frontage, and zoning and use permission (C-3 against C-2 in Gwinnett, for example).

Sewer and water design, grading, drainage and the ES&PC plan are not included; they are produced and sealed by the client's engineer of record on top of the preliminary plan. The plan goes to the county or city at concept and pre-application, to a lender, and to a general contractor for pricing. The preliminary versus final site plan guide shows where the handoff falls, and the site plan consultant and site plan services pages describe the work. For background reading, see gas station permitting and stormwater as a site plan variable.

Neighboring state pages: Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. All covered states are listed under service areas.

By Viola Sauer, Principal, Innowave Studio