Catoosa County, GA Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Section 5.02.03(B)(4)(i) of the Unified Development Code adds an occupancy condition on top of the size, bedroom, and setback limits that already govern freestanding accessory dwellings in single-family detached residential districts. The rule requires the owner of the property to occupy one of the two dwellings, either the principal home or the accessory unit, as a permanent and principal residence, and the owner must provide a signed statement attesting to that occupancy. This closes off building the accessory dwelling purely as a rental investment while the owner lives elsewhere, or renting out both structures to unrelated tenants with no owner on site.

It pairs with the timing rule in the same subsection, which bars the accessory dwelling from going up until the principal home has already stood completed for at least three years, and with the definitional limits in Section 5.02.03(A) that keep tents, boats, manufactured storage buildings, RVs, and travel trailers out of the accessory-dwelling category altogether. Because the occupancy statement is a condition of the same zoning approval that authorizes the accessory dwelling in the first place, a change in ownership or occupancy that leaves neither dwelling owner-occupied puts the property out of compliance with the standard it was permitted under, not just a paperwork lapse.