When developing under any zoning classification, the provisions listed in Tables 240.1, 240.2 and 240.3 and any additional standards or requirements listed in Chapters 210, and 220 must be met. When a standard in Tables 240.1, 240.2, or 240.3 conflict with a standard in Chapters 210 or 220, the standards in Chapters 210 and 220 shall have precedence.

Table 240.1
Dimensional Standards for Residential Zoning Districts

¹ Minimum requirement for public sewage system and public water supply (Ord. 22-14, 12/13/22)

² Minimum requirement for on-site sewage management systems with public water supply (Ord. 22-14, 12/13/22)

³ Minimum requirement for on-site sewage management systems with Non-public (Individual) water supply (Ord. 22-14, 12/13/22)

⁴ Amended by Ord. 25-04, 5/13/25

⁵ Amended by Ord. 25-05, 6/10/25

⁶ Amended by Ord. 22-08, 5/25/22

Table 240.2 Reserved

Table 240.3
Dimensional Standards for Non-Residential and MPR Zoning Districts

¹ Minimum requirement for public sewage system and public water supply

² Minimum requirement for on-site sewage management systems with public water supply

³ Minimum requirement for on-site sewage management systems with Non-public (individual) water supply

⁴ No minimum size for outpareels if design and layout are consistent with overall development

⁵ See Section 220-40.06 for minimum buffer requirements along property lines which abut a residential district or use

(Ord. 22-08, 5/25/22; Ord. 22-14, 12/13/22; Ord. No. 25-04, § 1, 5-13-2025; Ord. No. 25-05, § 16, 6-10-2025; Ord. No. 25-06, § 10, 9-9-2025)

Except as hereinafter provided, no building, structure, or land shall be used or occupied, and no structure or part thereof shall be erected, constructed, subdivided, moved, altered, added to, or enlarged for any purpose or in any manner other than is set forth in Title 2 of this UDO or in amendments to this UDO.

Except as hereinafter provided, no building shall be erected, reconstructed or structurally altered, to exceed in height the limit established in Title 2 of this UDO or in amendments to this UDO.

Only one principal building and its customary accessory buildings may be erected on any one lot within agricultural and single-family residential in accordance with provisions of Title 2 of this UDO. Multi-family uses may be located on the same lot subject to area, yard, setback, and zoning requirements.

No lot, even though it may consist of one or more adjacent lots of record, shall be reduced in size. The lot width or depth, front, side or rear yard, lot area per family, or other requirements of Title 2 of this UDO, must be maintained unless approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals. This section shall not apply when a portion of a lot is acquired for public purposes.

No building shall hereafter be erected on a lot which does not abut for a minimum of 30 feet on a publicly dedicated, publicly approved, or publicly maintained street, or on a dedicated easement (which has been recorded by the Clerk of Superior Court) connecting with a publicly dedicated, publicly approved or publicly maintained street which guarantees ingress and egress for perpetuity (also subject to requirements of the Title 3 of this UDO).

When the frontage of one street exceeds the frontage of the other, the one with the least frontage shall be deemed the front of the lot. The side yard setback for a corner lot adjacent to a local street shall be 25 feet in all zoning districts except where otherwise noted herein.

If a building or accessory building is constructed or a use of a lot occurs on a lot having frontage on two roads, a setback from each road shall be provided equal to the front yard setback requirements in which the lot is located.

240-90.01 Substandard Size Lots. Where the owner of a lot at the time of the adoption of this UDO or their successor in title thereto does not own sufficient land to enable him to conform to the dimensional requirements of this UDO, such lot may be used as a building site provided the yard and other space requirements of the district may be reduced by the smallest amount that will permit reasonable use of the property as a building site. However, in no case shall the setbacks be reduced to less than one-half of the least restrictive zoning district's minimum area and yard requirements set forth within this ordinance unless approved by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

240-90.02 Adjoining Lots. If two or more adjoining lots with continuous frontage are in a single ownership at any time after the adoption of this UDO and such lots individually are too small to meet the yard, width, and area requirements of the district in which they are located, such groups of lots shall be considered as a single lot or several lots of minimum permitted size and the lot or lots in one ownership shall be subject to the requirements of this ordinance. This does not apply to lots approved prior to the adoption of this ordinance.

Every part of a required yard shall be open to the sky, unobstructed, except for accessory buildings in a rear yard, except for the ordinary projection of a cornice, eave, belt cornice, sill, canopy or other similar architectural feature projecting not to exceed 36 inches into said yard.

No yard provided for about a building for the purposes of complying with the provisions of this ordinance or amendments thereto shall be considered as providing a yard for any other building, and no yard on one lot shall be considered as providing a yard for a building on any other lot.

No outside storage of goods or materials shall be allowed except as hereinafter provided.

Any dwelling which is damaged beyond repair by fire, natural or manmade disaster shall be removed and disposed of in accordance with provisions of the Standard Unsafe Building Abatement Code as adopted by the State of Georgia.

240-140.01 Objective. The objective of providing buffers and landscaped areas for screening between dissimilar districts is to protect and preserve the appearance, character, and value of adjacent land uses.

240-140.02 Buffer Requirements. The buffer area may be included within the required setbacks; however, in such case that the required buffer is greater than the required setback, the required buffer shall be adhered to.

240-140.03 Standards. Buffers are subject to review and approval by County planning staff. The landscaping policies and standards listed in this section are the minimum policies and standards for buffers. The following are required standards for buffers and shall be used by the county planning staff in reviewing development applications.

A.

Buffers shall be designated on the site plan as a permanent buffer strip.

B.

Buffers shall be natural/undisturbed areas of existing mature trees which meet the intent of the definition of buffer. Where substantially devoid of existing trees, or where it is necessary to disturb the existing natural/undisturbed area, a planted/landscaped buffer shall be established in accordance with this section.

C.

Buffers shall be established and maintained along required adjoining property to meet the minimum width requirements for dissimilar districts as shown in Table 240.4.

D.

Buffers shall be of such nature and density at species maturity to screen activities and uses on the lot from view from the normal level of a first story window on an abutting lot. Buffers shall not be closer than 15 feet to the street right-of-way unless approved by County planning staff.

E.

Buffers shall provide year-round visual screening from the ground to a height of at least six feet.

F.

Buffers that utilize trees and/or other vegetation shall be installed not only to provide visual screening but to allow for proper plant growth and maintenance.

G.

Buffer design shall be integrated with the overall design concept for the project.

H.

Existing tree cover and natural vegetation shall be undisturbed except for the addition of supplemental plantings or other approved screening devices, or for the provision of required access or utility crossings as approved by the county planning staff. Where a buffer is substantially devoid of trees or shrubbery, grading may be allowed within the buffer area prior to replanting or the provision of other screening devices as required.

I.

Said buffer areas may not be used for any parking or for the erection of any permanent structure thereon except a fence.

J.

No artificial plants, trees, or other artificial vegetation shall be installed.

K.

All existing, healthy deciduous and hardwood trees with a caliper of five or more inches at a point four and one-half feet above the natural grade shall be retained, whenever feasible; if not feasible the tree shall be replaced with the same or similar type of tree in accordance with the intent of paragraph (L) below.

L.

All planted trees are encouraged to be native to this region and, when planted, such replacement tree shall be a minimum height of six feet and be a species which will reach at least 20 feet in height at maturity or shall be a flowering tree with a minimum height of six feet at time of planting. All plantings shall be in staggered rows, with vegetation spaced a minimum of ten feet apart (measured trunk to trunk) with a minimum of two staggered rows of plantings for every ten feet of buffer width. Trees selected for planting shall be a species listed in Table 240.5. Standards for transplanting shall be in keeping with those established by the International Society of Arboriculture, as included in the latest edition of the "Tree and Shrub Transplanting Manual". Refer to the American Association of Nurserymen publication "American Standard for Nursery Stock" (ANSI Z60, 1971) for plant material quality specifications. Refer to the "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants" (Michael Dirr, 1983, Castle Books) for information on tree species site requirements.

M.

All areas required to be undisturbed shall have protective tree fencing installed along the limits of clearing or grading which adjoin existing trees in accordance with the provisions found in this section. These measures shall be in place prior to beginning of clearing or grading activities and shall be maintained until a Notice of Termination is filed with Georgia EPD.

Table 240.4
Minimum Buffer Width Requirements

¹ A 75-foot buffer is required adjacent to streets

Table 240.5
Recommended Tree Species List by Open Soil Surface Requirements (OSSA)¹

Source: Georgia Forestry Commission (2/21/20)

¹ OSSA at one square foot Basal Area

² Only for OSSA islands larger than 600 square feet

³ Notes (N) = Native

240-140.04 Maintenance.

A.

All buffers shall be installed in a sound workmanship-like manner and according to accepted and proper planting procedures which meet the intent of the buffer requirements.

B.

Once installed, the owner shall be responsible for maintenance of all buffers, which shall be maintained in good condition to as to present a healthy, neat, and orderly appearance which meet the intent of the buffer requirements.

C.

Should the vegetation die or be removed such that the buffer no longer functions as required, that vegetation must be replaced by the owner.

D.

The owner shall have 30 days to replace missing or damaged trees, or restore buffer areas to meet the intent of the buffer requirements.

240-140.05 Inspection of Required Buffers. Screens, walls, fences, planted dividing strips, or any other type of buffer required by this UDO will be subject to periodic inspections by the Planning and Zoning Division to determine that such required walls, fences, planted dividing strips or any other type of buffers are being properly maintained. Failure to maintain such required walls, fences, planted dividing strips or buffers to an acceptable standard may be deemed a violation of this Section.

(Ord. 22-08, 5/25/22; Ord. 22-14, 12/13/22; Ord. 23-07, 6/13/23)

No existing building or structure shall be enlarged unless the lot meets the minimum land area requirements of the zoning district in which said building is located.

In all zoning districts, no fence, structure, planting, or other obstruction (above a height of three feet) shall be maintained within 15 feet of the intersection of the right-of-way lines extended of two streets, or of a street intersection with a railroad right-of-way.

No residential or commercial building or any type residence including manufactured homes shall hereafter be erected or placed on a lot without prior application for an approved septic tank and nitrification field. No occupancy of such buildings or mobile homes is permitted until the approved septic tank and nitrification field have been completely installed. This shall not apply where public sewerage is used at the property, provided it is properly connected.

240-180.01 Procedure; Criteria. In the event an applicant wishes to use property for a use which is not specifically identified under inherent uses, or uses allowed with the approval of a special use permit, and where such use is not specifically prohibited from the district, the following provisions shall apply:

A.

The applicant shall submit to the Planning & Zoning Division Manager a written request for a determination of the unclassified use.

1.

The Planning & Zoning Division Manager shall review the request as submitted and determine if the proposed use is of a similar character to the district in which it is proposed.

2.

If the Planning & Zoning Division Manager determines that the use is of a similar character and meets the intent of the uses permitted inherently within the district, they shall instruct the county planner to allow said use.

3.

In the event the Planning & Zoning Division Manager determines the proposed use in the district is consistent with the character and intent of a special use permit within the district, then the applicant shall apply for a special use permit subject to approval in the normal manner.

B.

If the Planning & Zoning Division Manager is unable to make the determination within 14 days or the applicant chooses to appeal the staff decision, the following procedure shall apply:

1.

The Planning & Zoning Division Manager shall submit to the Planning Commission and County Attorney a written request for a determination of the unclassified use at the next regular scheduled Planning Commission meeting.

2.

The Planning Commission and County Attorney shall review the request as submitted and determine if the proposed use is of a similar character to the district in which it is proposed.

3.

If the Planning Commission and County Attorney determine that the use is of a similar character and meets the intent of the uses permitted inherently within the district, they shall instruct Planning & Zoning Division Manager to allow said use.

4.

In the event the Planning Commission and County Attorney determine the proposed use in the district is consistent with the character and intent of a Special Exception Use or Special Use Permit within the district, then the applicant shall apply for a Special Exception Use or Special Use Permit subject to approval in the normal manner.

5.

In no event shall the provisions of this Section be used to allow an incompatible use or a use specifically prohibited by this ordinance within a certain zoning district.

6.

Once a use has been allowed or disallowed by the Planning Commission and or planning staff, it shall then be considered classified under the appropriate category in the district.

When planting required trees in residential districts the following regulations shall apply:

A.

The required number of trees per lot shall be preserved or provided in the front or side yard provided trees are not located in utility easements, drainage easements, or septic drain fields.

B.

The homebuilder shall be responsible for preserving or planting the individual lot trees prior to the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy.

C.

The required trees shall be selected from Table 240.5 as those designated as "Road Frontage Yard" and shall be at least 2-inch caliper DBH at time of planting.

D.

Use of trees not referenced in Table 240.5 is subject to approval by Planning and Zoning Division.

(Ord. 22-14, 12/13/22)

The planting of street trees is required within nonresidential developments in order to enhance the appearance of such developments.

A.

The minimum required tree planting is one tree for every 35 linear feet of road frontage.

B.

The required trees shall be selected from Table 240.5 as those designated as "Road Frontage Street" and shall be at least 2-inch caliper DBH at time of planting.

C.

Plantings may occur within parking lot islands instead of right-of-way and shall be selected from Table 240.5 as those designated for "Parking Lot Tree Islands" provided the tree count and caliper are maintained.

D.

Use of trees not referenced in Table 240.5 is subject to approval by Planning and Zoning Division.

(Ord. 22-14, 12/13/22)