Gwinnett County Zoning Ordinance: Districts, Setbacks & Variances

The Gwinnett County Zoning Ordinance — formally the Unified Development Ordinance — controls what you can build on any unincorporated parcel in the county, where on the lot you can build it, and what you can use it for.¹ Every parcel sits in a zoning district, and that district’s rules decide almost everything about your project. The ordinance has been amended multiple times, most recently in October 2025, and it works alongside the 2045 Unified Plan the Board of Commissioners adopted on February 20, 2024.² If what you want to do doesn’t match the district you’re in, you’ll need a rezoning, a special use permit, or a variance.

Find Your Zoning First

Before drawing plans or spending money, look up your district. Gwinnett County’s online GIS Data Browser lets you search by address, parcel number, or owner name and pulls up the zoning designation for any parcel.³ The Department of Planning and Development at 446 West Crogan Street in Lawrenceville will help in person. The district code tells you what’s allowed by right, what needs a special use permit, and what would require a full rezoning. Any use not specifically listed as permitted in your district is prohibited unless it qualifies as a legally established nonconforming use.⁴

What the Districts Allow

Residential

Residential districts scale from rural to high-rise. RA-200 is the most restrictive, requiring 40,000-square-foot lots at least 200 feet wide. R-LL sits at 32,000 square feet, R-100 at 15,000 square feet (the standard suburban district), R-75 at 10,500, R-60 at 7,200 where public water and sewer are available, and R-SR down to 5,000. R-TH is for townhomes. The LRR, MRR, and HRR districts cover low-rise, mid-rise, and high-rise multifamily housing.⁵

Commercial, Industrial, and Mixed-Use

C-1 is the Neighborhood Business District for smaller-scale retail. C-2 is the General Business District, handling shopping centers and heavier retail, and C-3 goes further still. M-1 covers light industry and M-2 covers heavy industry, both kept apart from residential areas. Mixed-use comes in three scales: MU-N (neighborhood), MU-C (community), and MU-R (regional).⁵

Dimensional Rules That Decide Whether Your Project Fits

Setbacks

Setbacks control how close your structure can sit to each property line. Front setbacks run 35 feet in RA-200 and R-LL, 25 feet in R-100, 20 feet in R-75, and 15 feet in R-60. Side yards range from 20 feet in RA-200 down to 5 feet in R-60 and R-SR. Rear setbacks range from 40 feet in the large-lot districts to 20 feet in the denser ones.⁵

One rule catches people out. Where the back or side of a residential unit faces an external public street, a 40-foot setback with a 10-foot landscape strip applies regardless of the standard district setback.⁵

Height and Lot Coverage

Single-family districts generally cap building height at 35 feet. R-TH townhomes go to 40 feet and R-IF to 45 feet. Multifamily districts go higher: 60 feet in LRR and 75 feet in MRR.⁵

Lot coverage caps the share of the lot a building can occupy. RA-200 and R-LL allow 25 percent, R-100 allows 45 percent, R-75 allows 55 percent, R-60 allows 60 percent, and R-SR allows up to 70 percent.⁵

Landscape Buffers

When commercial or industrial development borders residential land, buffers are required. Widths run from 15 feet with a 6-foot fence up to 75 feet with a 6-foot berm, depending on the intensity of the adjacent uses.⁶ Undersized buffers are a common reason plans get rejected.

Accessory Buildings

Detached garages, workshops, and sheds have their own limits. An accessory building in a residential district cannot exceed 50 percent of the size of the primary dwelling, and it cannot be used for commercial operations or human habitation. The one exception is an accessory dwelling unit, such as a guest house, which may be allowed under certain conditions.⁷ Check the 50 percent cap against your home’s square footage before you buy plans.

When Your Plans Don’t Fit the District

Three separate paths handle different kinds of mismatches. Pick the wrong one and you’ll waste months.

Rezoning

A rezoning changes the underlying zoning classification of the property itself. Applications go to the Department of Planning and Development and require a Letter of Intent explaining how the proposal aligns with county land use goals, a detailed site plan, and a professional boundary survey with a legal description.⁸ A vague or weak Letter of Intent sinks applications regularly.

Fees depend on district type and acreage. Single-family residential applications start at $750 for parcels up to 5 acres and rise to $2,500 for parcels over 100 acres, plus $40 per additional acre. Nonresidential applications start at $1,000 and rise to $3,000. MU-N starts at $1,000 plus $100 per acre, MU-R at $3,000 plus $200 per acre. All categories cap at $10,000.⁹

Staff reviews the package and prepares a recommendation to approve, approve with conditions, or deny. The Planning Commission holds a public hearing and votes, and the Board of Commissioners issues the final decision, which may include specific conditions.⁸ Plan on several months from submission to final vote, not weeks.

Larger projects trigger a Public Participation Plan. The thresholds are more than 10 new residential lots, more than 5,000 square feet of nonresidential construction, or more than 10,000 square feet of land disturbance. When they apply, you must hold at least one in-person community meeting, mail notice to property owners within 1,000 feet by first-class mail at least 14 days ahead (including the application, Letter of Intent, and an 8.5-by-11-inch site plan), and file a Public Participation Report with the Planning Division afterward. Skipping this delays your hearing.¹⁰

Special Use Permit

A special use permit allows a specific activity that is compatible with the district but not automatically permitted there. The filing path, documents, fees, and public participation obligations track the rezoning process, and both the Planning Commission and the Board of Commissioners weigh in.⁸ The distinction: the permit attaches to a specific use, not to the underlying zoning classification.

Variance

A variance provides relief from a specific dimensional requirement like a setback or height limit, without changing what uses are permitted. Variance requests go to the Gwinnett County Zoning Board of Appeals, not the Planning Commission or Board of Commissioners.¹¹ You have to show that strict application of the ordinance creates a hardship specific to the property. Inconvenience or added cost isn’t enough.

Nonconforming Uses

When the county rezones a property, existing uses that no longer match the new rules don’t automatically become illegal. A use lawfully established before the change is permitted to continue under the nonconforming use provisions in Chapter 260.⁴ Nonconforming status comes with restrictions on expanding or rebuilding. If a nonconforming structure is destroyed beyond a certain threshold, it typically cannot be rebuilt to the same nonconforming standard. Understand those limits before investing in improvements to an inherited nonconforming situation.

Violations and Enforcement

Zoning is enforced by the Department of Planning and Development’s Code Enforcement division. Most cases start with a Courtesy Notice describing the violation, the correction required, and a deadline. Voluntary correction is the goal at this stage.¹²

Ignore the notice and the county can issue a citation to Recorders Court. A single violation can draw fines of up to $1,000 and up to 60 days of imprisonment, and each day a violation continues can be treated as a separate offense, so the numbers add up fast.¹² Fixing the problem during the courtesy period is by far the cheapest outcome.

1
Gwinnett County. Unified Development Ordinance
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Gwinnett County Government. 2045 Unified Plan
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Gwinnett County Government. GIS Land and Property Maps
4
Municode Library. Gwinnett County Code of Ordinances – Chapter 230
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Gwinnett County. Gwinnett County Unified Development Ordinance Title 2 – Land Use and Zoning
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Gwinnett County. Unified Development Ordinance Appendix A
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Gwinnett County. Accessory Building, Structure, and Uses
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Gwinnett County. Procedures and Instructions Rezoning, Change in Conditions, and Special Use Permit Applications
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Gwinnett County. Gwinnett County Planning and Development Fee Schedule
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Gwinnett County Government. Public Participation Requirements for Rezoning, Change in Conditions, and Special Use Permits
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Gwinnett County. Zoning Board of Appeals
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Gwinnett County Government. Code Enforcement