RV park site plans in Georgia

The state regime: a DPH tourist accommodation permit

Georgia permits an RV park as a tourist accommodation. Department of Public Health (DPH) Rule 511-6-2, under O.C.G.A. 31-28 and effective January 1, 2014, treats recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds as tourist accommodations ^[1]. Plans are due 14 days before construction ^[1]. The plan review covers the site plan, floor plan, elevation and cross section, and a new facility must score 100% on its permitting inspection ^{[3, 4]}. Inspections then happen at least twice a year ^{[1, 5]}.

The rule sets distances and services, not yield. Each line below carries the rule section the site plan is checked against:

Density and site size are left to the county or city, so the yield of a Georgia park is set by local zoning and by the distances above, not by a state cap ^[1]. Those distances still decide the geometry: every trailer sits 15 ft from any building and 10 ft from the internal driveway, the driveway itself is at least 20 ft wide, and the dependent spaces sit within 200 ft of a bathhouse ^[1]. The RV sites per acre guide shows how distances like these turn into yield.

Georgia's state minimum codes include the 2023 NEC with 2026 Georgia Amendments, effective January 1, 2026, alongside the 2024 ICC family ^[6]. In the 2023 text, NEC 551.71 requires at least one 20 A, 125 V receptacle at every site with electrical supply, a 30 A receptacle at no fewer than 70 percent of sites, and a 50 A, 125/250 V receptacle at no fewer than 40 percent of new sites ^[7]. The plan counts the 30 A and 50 A sites in its site data table; the engineer of record designs the service.

Approval layers in Georgia

Counties govern unincorporated land and cities govern inside their limits, and annexation changes which code applies ^[8]. Rezonings are legislative decisions under the Zoning Procedures Law, O.C.G.A. 36-66 ^[9]; since the 2022 amendments (HB 1405), variances, special administrative permits, special exceptions and conditional use permits are quasi-judicial and need a hearing with at least 30 days' notice ^[10].

A Land Disturbance Permit is required at 1.0 acre of disturbance, for any disturbance in a common development (a subdivision platted after 1/1/2000), or for disturbance under 1 acre within 200 ft of state waters ^[2]. The construction stormwater permits GAR100001, GAR100002 and GAR100003 were reissued effective August 1, 2023 and run through July 31, 2028 ^[11]. The Notice of Intent is filed at least 14 days before construction with an ES&PC Plan, and no more than 50 acres may be actively disturbed at once without EPD district authorization ^[15]. The fee is $80.00 per disturbed acre, split $40 to EPD and $40 to the Local Issuing Authority where a certified one exists, otherwise the full $80 to EPD ^[16]. For a phased park, the disturbed area of each phase is a line in the site data table.

The buffers come next. 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 ^[12]. Within 2,000 ft of the Chattahoochee between Buford Dam and the Fulton and Douglas county limits, 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 ^[13]. In water supply watersheds, DNR's 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 tanks and drainfields are prohibited in the setback ^[17]. For a park sited on a creek or a lake, these lines are drawn before the pads.

Crossing a buffer is its own approval. Buffer variances follow the procedures and criteria of DNR Rule 391-3-7-.05, and some enumerated activities need no application, such as specified perpendicular utility crossings with under 50 ft of disturbance and roadway drainage structures ^[18]. Wetlands and other waters of the U.S. are regulated under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, whose Savannah District covers Georgia ^[19]. On-site sewage systems are regulated by DPH, and private wells and groundwater or surface water withdrawal permits by EPD; around Savannah, withdrawal caps on the Floridan aquifer, imposed in 2013 because of saltwater intrusion, constrain new supply ^[20]. A park that will cross the public water system trigger plans its water source with that in mind.

Who prepares and seals what

Georgia ties seals to the work. O.C.G.A. 43-15-24 requires works that involve professional or structural engineering and could, by their function or existence, endanger public health, safety or welfare to be prepared under the seal of a professional engineer, architect or professional structural engineer ^[21]. The section does not apply where the completed cost is less than $100,000.00 or the use is exclusively private or farm, but a 1987 Attorney General opinion holds that schools, auditoriums, buildings for mass assemblage and group housing projects are not exempt at any cost ^{[21, 22]}. Under O.C.G.A. 43-4-14, single-story buildings not exceeding 5,000 sq ft need no architect's seal, except assembly, educational, health care, detention, hotel, lodging, multifamily and care occupancies ^[23]. Boundary surveys and recordable plats are sealed by a Georgia-registered land surveyor under the Plat Act, O.C.G.A. 15-6-67, and Board Rule Chapter 180-7 ^[24], and the ES&PC Plan is prepared by a design professional certified through a Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission course under O.C.G.A. 12-7-9 ^[25].

Two survey rules shape the base sheet. A topographic survey carries a note that the surveyor's certification extends only to its topographic aspects, sealing of topographic surveys and non-boundary drawings falls under Rule 180-12, and the Plat Act was updated in 2017 and again in 2024 ^[24]. O.C.G.A. 43-15-13.1 gives land surveyors a limited pathway into the design of stormwater management plans, water distribution lines and sanitary sewer collection systems ^[26].

A seal goes only on work the professional controls. Under O.C.G.A. 43-15-22(d), sealing work that another person prepared outside the licensee's daily direct supervisory control, without a thorough review of that work, is a fraudulent act of misconduct ^[27]. The engineer of record therefore does not stamp the studio's sheet. The engineer takes the preliminary plan as the layout brief and draws the sealed civil set (grading, stormwater, water and sewer, the ES&PC Plan) under their own responsible charge, and the architect of record does the same for any building that needs a seal.

County zoning sets density and stay limits

The state rule leaves yield to local codes, and Georgia counties write their own RV and campground standards. Cherokee County requires a 10-acre minimum lot, a 50 ft buffer and a 30-day maximum stay for lodge and campground uses ^[28]. Savannah's zoning caps RV park stays at 90 days and sets a 5 acre minimum ^[29]. Gwinnett County allows RV parks and campgrounds only in its RA-200 district, as a special use in the Sec. 210-130 use table, through a Special Use Permit under UDO Sec. 270-30 ^[30]. The gas station and c-store model project in Gwinnett County walks a site through that county's special use path.

The coast runs its own intake. In Chatham County the Metropolitan Planning Commission takes applications and Engineering issues permits, site plan review meetings are encouraged, and MPC fees run by acres or lots; Bryan County may require a traffic impact analysis before review and sends final plats and easements to its Board of Commissioners; Effingham County's review includes a flood plain engineer approval ^[31]. A park on the coast around Savannah therefore meets a different first gate in each county.

Review time depends on the approval type. Administrative reviews move in weeks: an initial civil or land disturbance review in Gainesville runs about 2 to 3 weeks, and Hall County reviews building plans in 14-day cycles ^[32]. A park that needs a rezoning, special use permit or variance runs longer, because those decisions go to public hearings, with at least 30 days' notice for quasi-judicial matters ^[10].

Metro Atlanta

Metro Atlanta splits by jurisdiction. Inside Atlanta's city limits, the Department of City Planning requires a Special Administrative Permit ahead of any building permit in the SPI and BeltLine districts and in LW, MR, MRC, NC, I-Mix and Unified Development Plan districts ^[33]. For SPI-16 Midtown, Chapter 16-18P asks for a site plan, a landscape plan and facade elevations ^[34], and the SAP forms send tree preservation, the riparian buffers ordinance, land disturbance regulations, drainage and sewer capacity to separate reviews ^[35]. Unincorporated Gwinnett confines RV parks to RA-200 by special use permit ^[30], and any parcel within 2,000 ft of the Chattahoochee carries the corridor buffers ^[13]. The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metro grew from 6,106,816 residents in April 2020 to 6,482,182 in July 2025 and added 61,953 from 2024 to 2025, third in the nation by numeric gain ^[36]. The Atlanta page covers the city and county processes in more depth.

Coast, mountains and floodplains

The coastal counties (Chatham, Bryan, Liberty, Glynn, Camden and McIntosh) face hurricane wind and surge exposure, with higher design wind pressures and, in flood and surge zones, elevated finished-floor and foundation requirements; after Hurricane Helene, DNR's Coastal Resources Division issued emergency permitting orders from October 2, 2024 through March 31, 2025 to speed repair and reconstruction ^[37]. Coastal marshlands carry the 25 ft buffer and trout streams the 50 ft buffer set out above ^[12]. Work in the marshes or on the shore is permitted separately by the Coastal Resources Division under the Coastal Marshlands Protection Act (O.C.G.A. 12-5-280 et seq.), the Shore Protection Act (O.C.G.A. 12-5-230 et seq.) and its Revocable License Authority ^[38]. In Bryan County, the Hyundai Metaplant at Ellabell is a $7.59 billion investment on 2,284 acres; it held its grand opening on March 26, 2025 and will use up to 6.6 million gallons of water a day ^[39]. Across the state, an RV in a special flood hazard area must meet manufactured home elevation and anchoring under 44 CFR 60.3(c)(14) unless it is on site fewer than 180 consecutive days, or is fully licensed and ready for highway use ^[40]; a Georgia park is already defined as not for permanent residence ^[1].

How Georgia's rule compares

Of the three, only Georgia writes an internal driveway width and a numeric public water system trigger into the park rule itself ^{[1, 41, 42, 44]}. As in Tennessee, there is no state density cap and no minimum site, so the local code and the distance rules together set the count.

What the preliminary plan carries for a Georgia park

A preliminary site plan for a Georgia park is drawn to the DPH rule and the local code together. Its site data table carries the gross acreage and the local density limit, the closest trailer-to-building and trailer-to-driveway distances against 15 ft and 10 ft, driveway widths against 20 ft, dependent spaces and bathhouse distances against the 10-space and 200 ft rule, the occupancy check against the public water system trigger, disturbed acreage against the 1.0 acre threshold, and the state waters, trout stream or corridor buffers drawn in place ^{[1, 2, 12, 13]}. It goes to the county at concept and pre-application, to a lender, and to a general contractor for pricing, and the same layout drives the RV park and resort rendering views.

The engineering layer belongs to the engineer of record: the ES&PC Plan, grading and stormwater, the water supply, sewer or septic design and the electrical service sized to NEC Article 551. The Georgia site plan page covers the statewide approval layers for every asset, and the RV park site plan hub sets out the layout method; resort and tent-led programs are on the RV resort and campground pages. Other state pages: RV park site plans in Florida and Tennessee RV parks. The model projects are listed under case studies, and the RV park design standards post compares the numbers across states.