Atlanta › Code of Ordinances — Part II (General Ordinances)

Chapter 1 — General Provisions

current as of 2026-05-29currency checked manuallyOfficialVerify with City of Atlanta ↗12 sections · full chapter

§ 1-1

How Code designated and cited.

Sec. 1-1. How Code designated and cited.

The ordinances embraced in this and the following chapters shall constitute and be designated the “Code of Ordinances of the City of Atlanta, Georgia,” or “Atlanta City Code” and may be so cited. (Code 1977, § 1-1)

Charter reference—Ordinance codification, § 2-405.

§ 1-2

Deflnitions and rules of construction.

Sec. 1-2. Deflnitions and rules of construction.

In the construction of this Code and of all ordinances, the rules of construction and definitions set out in this section shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the city council. The rules of construction and definitions set out in this section shall not be applied to any section of this Code which shall contain any express provisions excluding such construction or where the subject matter or context of such section may be repugnant thereto.

Generally. The ordinary signification shall be applied to all words, except words of art or words connected with a particular trade or subject matter when they shall have the signification attached to them by experts in such trade or with reference to such subject matter. In all interpretations the courts shall look diligently for the intention of the council, keeping in view, at all times, the old law, the evil and the remedy. Grammatical errors shall not vitiate, and a transposition of words and clauses may be resorted to when the sentence or clause is without meaning as it stands.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 Ka), (b).

Liberal construction; minimum requirements; overlapping provisions. All general provisions, terms, phrases and expressions contained in this Code shall be liberally construed in order that the true intent and meaning of the city council may be fully carried out. In the interpretation and application of any provision of this Code, they shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted for the promotion of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience and general welfare. Where any provision of this Code imposes greater restrictions upon the subject matter than the other provisions of this Code, the provision imposing the greater restriction or regulation shall be deemed to be controlling.

Illustrations and summaries. In case of any difference of meaning or implication between text and any caption, illustration, summary table or illustrative table, the text shall control.

As soon as possible. “As soon as possible” means within a reasonable time, having due regard to all the circumstances.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 3(5).

Charter, “Charter” means the Charter of the City of Atlanta, Georgia.

City. “City” means the City of Atlanta, Georgia.

Code. “Code” means Code of Ordinances of the City of Atlanta, Georgia, as designated in section 1-1. The Code consists of two parts designated with Roman numerals. Part II is the General Ordinances (in which this section is located). Part III is the Land Development Code and consists of provisions that bear the same section numbers as the section numbers assigned to them in the city’s 1977 code.

Computation of time. When a number of days is prescribed for the exercise of any privilege or the discharge of any duty, only the first or last day shall be counted. If the last day shall fall on Saturday or Sunday, the party having such privilege or duty shall have through the following Monday to exercise such privilege or to discharge the duty. When the last day prescribed for such action shall fall on a public or legal holiday as set forth in state law, the party having such privilege or duty shall have through the following business day to exercise such privilege or to discharge the duty. When the period of time prescribed is less than seven days, an intermediate Saturday, Sunday and legal holiday shall be excluded in the computation.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 1(3).

Conjunctions. Where a provision involves two or more items, conditions, provisions or events connected by the conjunction “and,” “or” or “either ... or,” the conjunction shall, be interpreted as follows:

(1)And indicates that all the connected items, conditions, provisions or events shall apply.

(2)Or indicates that the connected items, conditions, provisions or events may apply singly or in any combination.

(3)Either... or indicates that the connected items, conditions, provisions or events shall apply singly, but not in combination.

Council, city council. “Council” or “city council” means the city council of the City of Atlanta, Georgia.

County. “County” means Fulton County, Georgia, DeKalb County, Georgia and such other counties in which the city may be located or any combination of such counties.

Delegation of authority. Whenever a provision appears requiring a city officer or city employee to do some act, it is to be construed to authorize the officer or employee to designate, delegate and authorize subordinates to perform the required act.

Following, “Following” means next after.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 3(8).

Gender. A word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to females and to firms, partnerships and corporations, as well as to males.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 1(4).

Joint authority. A joint authority given to any number of persons or officers may be executed by a majority of them, unless it is otherwise declared.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 1(5).

Joint city-county board of tax assessors. All references to a joint city-county board of tax assessors are references to the Fulton County tax assessor or to such other officer or agency as performs the functions of such joint board.

Keeper and proprietor. “Keeper” and “proprietor” mean and include persons, whether acting by themselves or acting as a servant, agent or employee.

May. “May” is to be construed as being permissive.

State law reference—Definition of “may,” O.C.G.A. § 1-3-3(10).

Month. “Month” means a calendar month.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 3(11).

Must. “Must” is to be construed as being mandatory.

Number. The singular and plural number include the other, unless expressly excluded.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 1(6).

Oath. “Oath” includes an affirmation.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 3(12).

O.C.G.A. “O.C.G.A.” means the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, as amended.

Officials, employees, boards, commissions or other agencies. Whenever reference is made to officials, employees, boards, commissions or other agencies by title only, the reference refers to the officials, employees, boards, commissions or other agencies of the city.

Owner. “Owner,” applied to a building or land, includes any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership or joint tenant of the whole or of a part of the building or land.

Person. “Person” includes any association, club, society, firm, corporation, partnership or body politic and corporate, as well as an individual.

State law reference—Definition of “person,” O.C.G.A. § 1-3-3(14).

Personal property. “Personal property” includes every species of property except real property, as defined in this section.

Preceding. “Preceding” means next before.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 3(15).

Property. “Property” includes real and personal property.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 3(16).

Public place. “Public place” includes any place that the public is invited or permitted to go or congregate.

Real property. “Real property” include lands, tenements and hereditaments.

Sexual orientation. “Sexual orientation” means the state of being heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual.

Shall. “Shall” is to be construed as being mandatory.

Sidewalk. “Sidewalk” means any portion of a street between the curbline and the adjacent property line, intended for the use of pedestrians, excluding parkways.

Signature or subscription. “Signature” or “subscription” includes the mark of an illiterate or infirm person.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 3(19).

State. “State” means the State of Georgia.

Street or road. “Street” or “road” includes any street, avenue, boulevard, road, alley, lane, viaduct and any other public highway in the city, including, but not limited to, the paved or improved surfaces thereof.

Tenant or occupant. “Tenant” or “occupant,” applied to a building or land, includes any person holding a written or oral lease of or who occupies the whole or a part of a building or land, either alone or with others.

Tense. Words used in the past or present tense include the future, as well as the past and present.

State law reference—Tense of words, O.C.G.A. § 1-3-1(7).

Week. “Week” means seven days.

Will. “Will” is to be construed as being mandatory.

Writing. “Writing” includes printing and all numerals.

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 3(23).

Yean “Year” means a calendar year. (Code 1977, § 5-6001)

State law reference—Similar provisions, O.C.G.A. § 1-3 3(24).

§ 1-3

Catchlines of sections, effect of history notes, references in Code.

Sec. 1-3. Catchlines of sections, effect of history notes, references in Code.

(a)The catchlines of the several sections of this Code in boldface type are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the sections and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such sections nor as any part of such sections nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, including the catchlines, are amended or reenacted.

(b)The history or source notes appearing in parentheses after sections in this Code are not intended to have any legal effect but are merely intended to indicate the source of matter contained in the section. Cross references, Charter references, related law references and state law references which appear after sections or subsections of this Code or which otherwise appear in footnote form are provided for the convenience of the user of this Code and have no legal effect.

(c)All references to chapters, articles, divisions, subdivisions or sections are to chapters, articles, divisions, subdivisions or sections of this Code, unless otherwise specified. References to parts bearing Roman numerals are references to part II, General Ordinances. References to parts bearing Arabic numbers are to parts found in part III, Land Development Code.

§ 1-4

Effect of repeal of ordinances.

Sec. 1-4. Effect of repeal of ordinances.

The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinance in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect. The repeal of an ordinance shall not affect any punishment or penalty incurred before the repeal took effect or any suit, prosecution or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal for an offense committed or cause of action arising under the ordinance repealed. (Code 1977, § 18-1003)

§ 1-5

Amendments to Code; effect of new ordinances; amendatory language.

Sec. 1-5. Amendments to Code; effect of new ordinances; amendatory language.

(a)All ordinances passed subsequent to this Code which amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code may be numbered in accordance with the numbering system of this Code and printed for inclusion in this Code. Repealed chapters, sections and subsections or any part thereof, by subsequent ordinances, may be excluded from the Code by omission from reprinted pages affected thereby. The subsequent ordinances as numbered and printed or omitted, in the case of repeal, shall be prima facie evidence of these subsequent ordinances until such time that this Code and subsequent ordinances numbered or omitted are readopted as a new Code.

(b)Amendments to any of the provisions of this Code may be made by amending those provisions by specific reference to the section number of this Code in the following language:

“Section of the Code of Ordinances, City of Atlanta, Georgia, is hereby amended to read as follows:....” The new provisions may then be set out in full as desired.

(c)If a new section not heretofore existing in the Code is to be added, the following language may be used:

“The Code of Ordinances, City ofAtlanta, Georgia, is hereby amended by adding a section (or article or chapter) to be numbered, which section reads as follows:.. . .” The new section may then be set out in full as desired.

(d)All sections, articles, chapters or provisions desired to be repealed should be specifically repealed by section, article or chapter number, as the case may be, or by setting them out at length in the repealing ordinance. (Code 1977, § 18-1006)

Charter reference—Ordinances generally, § 2-401 et seq.

§ 1-6

Supplementation of Code.

Sec. 1-6. Supplementation of Code.

(a)Supplements to this Code shall be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the city. A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive permanent and general parts of ordinances adopted during the period covered by the supplement and all changes made thereby in the Code. The pages of a supplement shall be so numbered that they will fit properly into the Code and will, where necessary, replace pages which have become obsolete or partially obsolete, and the new pages shall be so prepared that, when they have been inserted, the Code will be current through the date of the adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.

(b)In preparing a supplement to this Code, all portions of the Code which have been repealed shall be excluded from the Code by the omission thereof from reprinted pages.

(c)When preparing a supplement to this Code, the person authorized to prepare the supplement may make formal, nonsubstantive changes in ordinances and parts of ordinances included in the supplemental, insofar as it is necessary to do so to embody them into a unified Code. For example, the person may:

(1)Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subdivisions;

(2)Provide appropriate catchlines, headings and titles for sections and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement and make changes in such catchlines, headings and titles;

(3)Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions to be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material, change existing section or other subdivision numbers;

(4)Change the words “this ordinance” or words of the same meaning to “this chapter,” “this article,” “this division,” etc., as the case may be, or to “sections to ” (inserting section numbers to indicate the sections of the Code which embody the substantive sections of the ordinance incorporated into the Code); and

(5)Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original meaning of ordinance sections inserted into the Code.

(d)In no case shall the person make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance material included in the supplement or already embodied in the Code.

Charter reference—Supplementation of Code, § 2-405.

§ 1-7

Altering Code.

Sec. 1-7. Altering Code.

It shall be unlawful for any person in the city to change or amend, by additions or deletions, any part or portion of this Code or to insert or delete pages or portions thereof or to alter or tamper with this Code in any manner, except by ordinance, which will cause the law of the city to be misrepresented. (Code 1977, § 18-1007)

§ 1-8

General penalty; continuing violations.

Sec. 1-8. General penalty; continuing violations.

(a)In this section, the term "violation of this Code" means:

(1)Doing an act that is prohibited or made or declared unlawful, an offense or a misdemeanor by ordinance or by rule or regulation authorized by ordinance;

(2)Failure to perform an act that is required to be performed by ordinance or by rule or regulation authorized by ordinance; or

(3)Failure to perform an act if the failure is declared a misdemeanor or an offense or unlawful by ordinance or by rule or regulation authorized by ordinance.

(b)In this section, the term "violation of this Code" does not include the failure of a city officer or city employee to perform an official duty, unless it is provided that failure to perform the duty is to be punished as provided in this section or it is clear from the context that it is the intent to impose the penalty provided for in this section upon the officer or employee.

(c)Except as otherwise provided:

(1)A person convicted of a violation of this Code shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000.00, imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, work on the public streets or on public works of the city for not more than six months, supervised home confinement for a term not to exceed six months, or any combination thereof. With respect to violations of this Code that are continuous with respect to time, each day the violation continues is a separate offense.

(2)Notwithstanding the provisions in subsection (1), in lieu of suspension, revocation or the failure to renew, the mayor may impose a fine upon any licensee holding a license to sell alcoholic beverages for onpremise consumption, such fine not to exceed $2,500.00 for each violation of the alcoholic beverages licensing ordinances.

(d)The imposition of a penalty does not prevent revocation or suspension of a license, permit or franchise or other administrative sanctions.

(e)Violations of this Code that are continuous with respect to time are a public nuisance and may be abated by injunctive or other equitable relief and by such other means as are provided by law. The imposition of a penalty does not prevent equitable relief. (Code 1977, § 18-1008; Ord. No. 2006-45, § 1, 7-25-06; Ord. No. 2009-19(09-0-0798), § 1, 5-26 09)

Cross references—Authority of municipal judge to order persons convicted of offenses to perform work on public property, § 62-41; municipal court sentences for persons convicted of multiple offenses, § 62-42.

State law reference—Limitations on penalties, O.C.G.A. § 36-35-6(a)(2).

§ 1-9

Time limits on prosecutions.

Sec. 1-9. Time limits on prosecutions.

All prosecutions for violations of this Code or other city ordinances shall be commenced within two years after the violation. Any offense against this Code or those ordinances for which no prosecution begins within two years after its commission shall be barred, unless the accused shall have been beyond the limits of the city, in which case the time of absence from the city shall not be embraced or computed as within the two years. (Code 1977, § 3-1078)

§ 1-10

Severability of Code.

Sec. 1-10. Severability of Code.

The sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this Code are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this Code shall be declared unconstitutional, invalid or otherwise unenforceable by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, that unconstitutionality, invalidity or unenforceability shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, para graphs or sections of this Code, since they would have been enacted without the incorporation in this Code of the unconstitutional, invalid or unenforceable phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section. (Code 1977, § 18-1004)

See. 1-11. Provisions considered as continuations of existing ordinances.

The provisions appearing in this Code, insofar as they are the same as those of the Code of the city, as amended, and ordinances existing at the time of adoption of this Code, shall be considered as continuations thereof and not as new enactments. (Code 1977, § 18-1005)

§ 1-12

Prior offenses, penalties, contracts or rights not affected by adoption of Code.

Sec. 1-12. Prior offenses, penalties, contracts or rights not affected by adoption of Code.

(a)Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall affect any offense or act committed or done or any penalty or forfeiture incurred or any contract or right established or accruing before the effective date of this Code.

(b)The adoption of this Code shall not be interpreted as authorizing or permitting any use or the continuance of any use of a structure or premises in violation of any ordinance of the city in effect on the date of adoption of this Code.

§ 1-13

Matters not affected by Code.

Sec. 1-13. Matters not affected by Code.

(a)Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall affect an ordinance:

(1)Amending the Charter or published in the Charter.

(2)Promising or guaranteeing the payment of money for the city or authorizing the issuance of any bonds for the city or any evidence of the city's indebtedness or any contract or obligation assumed by the city.

(3)Granting a right or franchise to any person.

(4)Dedicating, naming, defining, establishing, locating, relocating, opening, paving, widening, vacating, etc., any street or public way in the city.

(5)Providing for an appropriation or authorizing appropriations or gifts.

(6)Making a special assessment.

(7)Dedicating or accepting a plat or subdivision.

(8)Rezoning property.

(9)Establishing salaries, compensation or benefits of city officers or city employees not in this Code.

(10)Approving the budget.

(11)Adopted for purposes that have been consummated.

(12)That is temporary, although general in nature.

(13)That is special, although permanent in nature.

(14)Establishing urban enterprise zones.

(15)Amending any act enacted by the General Assembly of the state or published in the related laws portion of this publication.

(16)Never codified or published in the 1977 edition of the city Code.

(b)As this Code consists of two parts (Part II, General Ordinances and Part III, Land Development Code) that are being adopted by separate ordinances, the adoption of part II does not repeal any provisions found in part III and the adoption of part III does not repeal any provisions found in part II. Both parts are units of this Code.

Chapter 2 ADMINISTRATION* Article I. In General Sec. 2-1.

Names of mayor and council required on publications relative to city-financed events.

Sec. 2-2.

Naming of public facilities and streets in honor of persons.

Sec. 2-3.

Vending machines on city property and in city facilities.

Sec. 2-4.

Self insurance and waiver of governmental immunity.

Sec. 2-5.

Telephone services for departments.

Sec. 2-6.

Lease of city-owned houses to certain public officers and other employees; demolition or moving city-owned houses.

Sec. 2-7.

Architectural services for construction, repair and maintenance of city buildings.

Sec. 2-8.

Official Town Hall meetings.

Sec. 2-9.

Annual training regarding state law requirements of lobbyists.

Secs. 2-10—2-35. Reserved.

Article II. Council Division 1. Generally Sec. 2-36.

Council president.

Sec. 2-37.

Selection of council president pro tempore.

Sec. 2-37.1. Method of filling temporary council vacancy.