Forsyth County › Unified Development Code

Chapter 8 — Zoning and Application Procedures, Article 2 — APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

current as of 2026-04-02currency checked manuallyOfficialofficial source ↗4 sections · full chapter

§ 8-2.1

Requirements for All Applications.

All applications specified in this chapter shall be submitted on forms provided by the county and shall be submitted with the documentation required for each type of application.

The director is hereby authorized to establish administrative deadlines for the receipt of applications and associated information in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

(A)Form. All applications shall be submitted using the appropriate application form per each application type, as specified by the department.

(1)Review of Application Completeness. Upon submittal, each application shall be subjected to a Review of Application Completeness prior to being officially accepted by the county. An application shall be considered “complete” if it is submitted on the required form, includes all submittal information, including all exhibits specified by the director, and accompanied by the application processing fee as adopted by the Board of Commissioners and as may be revised periodically. The Review of Application Completeness shall be conducted by county staff within five (5) business days of the submittal deadline. If the county determines the application is complete, the application shall be processed pursuant to this chapter. If the county determines that the application is incomplete, county staff shall notify the applicant of that fact via the contact information provided and specify the ways in which the application is deficient. All incomplete applications shall receive no further processing until the deficiencies are corrected via a new submittal. Resubmittal of the application shall be treated as a new application. Under no circumstances may county staff delay conducting the Review of Application Completeness in excess of five (5) business days of the submittal deadline. If the Review of Application Completeness is not completed within five (5) business days of the submittal deadline, the application shall be determined complete.

(B)Submittal Fees. All applications shall be submitted with the required fee. The amount of each fee will be established by the director, and approved by the Board of Commissioners, which may be revised periodically. Applicants may apply for more than one application simultaneously and such applications may be simultaneously considered by the county as more specifically provided by this chapter. In the case that more than one application is filed simultaneously, the applicant shall be responsible for filing the appropriate information and paying the specified fees for each application filed. All fees are nonrefundable once the application has been determined complete.

(C)Boundary Survey. All applications shall be accompanied by ten (10) copies of a boundary survey prepared by a registered land surveyor, and one (1) copy of the boundary survey shall be reduced to a size of 8.5 inches by 11 inches.

(D)Legal Description. All applications shall be accompanied by a written metes and bounds legal description. It must establish a point of beginning and from the point of beginning give each dimension bounding the property, calling the directions (e.g. north, northeasterly, southerly, etc.) which the boundary follows around the property returning to the point of beginning. If there are multiple properties, all properties shall be combined into one legal description.

(E)Site Plan Minimum Requirements. All applications shall be accompanied by ten (10) copies of a site plan and one (1) copy of the site plan reduced to a size of 8.5 inches by 11 inches. For applications for properties greater than 10 acres, the required site plan shall be prepared in full compliance with this subsection by a land surveyor, professional engineer, landscape architect or architect licensed to practice in the state of Georgia and shall be stamped and sealed by such stated professional in accord with Georgia law. The site plan so prepared may contain a disclaimer, as allowed by industry practice or applicable licensure requirements that the site plan is not to be considered an engineered document. For applications regarding properties of 10 acres or less, the site plan shall comply with the minimum information contents described in this subsection, but need not be prepared by a licensed professional as noted above.

If details submitted on a site plan do not meet numerical requirements as identified in this Code, a specific variance request shall be included on the submitted application. Unless otherwise specified in the board approval, the site plan submitted as part of the application shall be considered binding on the applicant.

Site plans submitted under the requirements of this chapter are not engineered, and as such the term ‘binding’ does not imply that it is site plan specific; rather it implies that the locations and/or uses are what the applicant intends to implement on the subject property. In any instance where the site plan conflicts with this Code, or any other county regulation, and there is not an approved variance, the regulation shall take precedent. The boundary of the site plan shall match the boundaries of the submitted boundary survey and the legal description. The site plan shall at minimum contain the following information (as applicable):

(1)Proposed layout of streets, alleys, lots, and pedestrian circulation systems;

(2)Lot or tract dimensions with required setbacks shown;

(3)Required and proposed buffers;

(4)Required and proposed landscape areas, active amenity areas, and open space;

(5)Proposed structures with square footages (except for single family residential subdivisions);

(6)Proposed uses for each structure (e.g. retail sales, offices, townhouses, etc.);

(7)Existing and proposed zoning districts of the subject property and abutting property;

(8)Proposed and existing location and use of all structures on the subject property;

(9)Existing and proposed right-of-way locations and dimensions and names of all roads and streets bounding the subject property;

(10)Driveways and parking areas with number of provided parking spaces;

(11)Loading and unloading facilities;

(12)Preliminary and existing locations of storm drainage and structures;

(13)Preliminary and existing locations and point of access for major utility lines (e.g. water, gas, electric, etc.);

(14)Preliminary and existing wastewater facilities including areas reserved for drain fields and septic tanks or point of access, sewer easements and manholes;

(15)Tax map/parcel number and owner name of subject property and all abutting property owners as shown on current county tax map records;

(16)Existing tree canopy (general location of existing canopy as indicated on the county GIS aerial photography); and

(17)Preliminary locations of environmental conditions (e.g. streams, wetlands, watershed protection districts, flood hazard areas, river corridor boundaries, groundwater recharge areas, etc.).

(F)Confirmation of Paid Taxes. A copy of the paid tax receipt for subject property or a statement by an official in the Tax Commissioner’s Office or other official document issued by the Tax Commissioner’s Office indicating taxes have been paid for the last year that they were due.

(G)Additional Application Requirements. Articles IV through IX of this Chapter identify additional application requirements per each type of application.

(H)Corporate/Company Disclosures. All applications shall identify the name of the applicant and, if the applicant is different from the property owner, be accompanied by a duly executed owner authorization.

If either the applicant or owner are corporations or limited liability companies, the application shall contain the names of the corporate stockholders with 10% ownership or greater, officers, and directors, unless the corporation has stock that is traded on a national stock exchange in which case the corporate name shall be sufficient. A limited liability company shall identify the name of all officers or members.

In addition to the owner and applicant, the application shall further identify any parties having a direct financial interest in the zoning application other than the owner and applicant (for instance, the intended developer or anticipated commercial occupant if known). If such additional parties having a direct financial interest are corporations or companies, then the names of corporate stockholders with 10% ownership or greater, officers, directors and company members shall be provided unless the corporation has stock that is traded on a national stock exchange in which case the corporate name shall be sufficient.

In the event that public disclosure of the developer or commercial occupant may cause such developer or occupant to withdraw from pursuing a project due to competition, trade secret, or proprietary business concerns, and if the proposed development advances a bona fide economic development purpose, then an affidavit affirmatively declaring such shall be tendered with the application and in that event only the owner and or authorized applicant shall be identified. The affidavit contemplated in this paragraph shall only be valid for its intended purpose if it is also signed by a duly authorized representative of the Forsyth County Development Authority, Cumming/Forsyth County Chamber of Commerce, or the Forsyth County Manager, with such signature certifying that the pertinent individual is aware of the proposed development and confirms that the proposed development advances a bona fide economic development purpose. For purposes of this paragraph, a bona fide economic development purpose means a development that would be eligible for an inducement under section 22-260 of the Forsyth County Economic Development Ordinance.

§ 8-2.2

Withdrawal of Applications.

Applications as specified in this Chapter may be withdrawn in conformance with the following provisions or as specified in this Code:

(A)Applicant Withdrawal. All applications may be withdrawn upon the written request of the applicant.

Withdrawal requests received prior to the date that public notice is provided in a newspaper of general circulation may be withdrawn without prejudice, and shall be permitted to be withdrawn without prejudice. Once public notice is provided in the newspaper of general circulation, the application shall be withdrawn with prejudice. However, the applicant may withhold the written request for withdrawal until the public hearing, in which the board with jurisdiction may permit applications to be withdrawn at the public hearing, but the withdrawal shall be with prejudice unless extenuating circumstances are evident and the board grants approval to withdraw without prejudice. There shall be no requirement that the pertinent board make specific findings of extenuating circumstances in order to allow withdrawal without prejudice. In no event shall an application be withdrawn more than once without prejudicing the right of the applicant to apply again within twelve (12) months from the date the application was made.

(B)Administrative Withdrawal. In order to remove applications that have been pending for more than one hundred and eighty (180) days after the application enters applicant work time without being placed on a public hearing agenda, the director is hereby authorized to administratively withdraw said applications. For purposes of this section, “being placed on a public hearing agenda” shall be deemed to occur on the date on which the department deems an application complete for board consideration.

Documentation shall be kept on file indicating the department’s attempts to contact the applicant via the contact information provided. All administratively withdrawn applications shall be considered withdrawn with prejudice.

§ 8-2.3

Reconsideration of Applications.

If an application is withdrawn with prejudice or denied by the Zoning Board of Appeals or Board of Commissioners, then the same property with a substantially similar application may not be submitted for reconsideration until the expiration of at least twelve (12) months immediately following the withdrawal at the Planning Commission public hearing or defeat of the application by the Zoning Board of Appeals or Board of Commissioners at their public hearing, as the case may be.

§ 8-2.4

Copies of Policies and Procedures, etc.

8-2.4 Copies of Policies and Procedures, etc. Copies of this chapter, and any rules of procedure adopted

by the Planning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals, or Board of Commissioners, shall be available for distribution to the general public by the department during regular business hours.

ARTICLE III, PUBLIC HEARINGS AND NOTICES FOR ALL APPLICATIONS: