Walton County, GA Accessory Structures: Shed & Carport Rules (2026)

Section 5-2-100's General Standards apply to every accessory building, structure, and use of land, including off-street parking, and require it to sit on the same lot as the principal building it serves. Placement is restricted to the rear yard or the side yard behind the front yard setback line, except on tracts of five acres or more, where accessory uses simply may not sit in the required front yard. No accessory structure, a shed included, may stand closer than five feet to an abutting property line.

Outside the A, A1, and A2 agricultural districts, an accessory building cannot be used unless the principal structure on the lot is also occupied, so a shed cannot go up on a vacant residential lot ahead of the house. Temporary buildings tied to active construction work are the one exception allowed in any district, and those must come down as soon as construction is finished. For platted R1 subdivisions, the ordinance layers on a cumulative size cap tied to lot size: 600 square feet total on lots under half an acre, 900 square feet on lots between a half acre and just under one acre, 1,200 square feet on lots from one acre up to five, and 2,000 square feet on lots of five acres or more. That cap covers every accessory building on the lot combined, not each shed individually.