Chatham County, GA Building Safety: Green Building Code (2026)

Section 20-201, "Adoption of Standard Codes," folds the current edition of the International Energy Conservation Code into the county's building regulations as item 10 of a ten-code list that also adopts the International Building, Plumbing, Mechanical, Fire, Fuel Gas and Residential Codes, the Standard Housing Code, the ISPSC and NFPA-101. The ordinance states plainly that it "shall be unlawful to erect or construct any building or structure in the county in violation of, or without complying with" these regulations, last amended February 26, 2016. Compliance is checked through the building permit and inspection process run by the Director of Building Safety, who also sets valuation for permit fee purposes.

For flood-hazard areas, § 20-201 cross-references the separate Chatham County Flood Ordinance for additional building requirements. Outside this mandatory energy code, the county's only other green-construction measure is a tax incentive, not a building standard: § 7-1003 lets a qualifying business or service enterprise inside an unincorporated enterprise zone that earns LEED "Gold Level" certification claim a sliding ad valorem tax exemption, 100% for the first five years down to 20% in year ten, capped at 10% of the zone's total property tax digest. That exemption runs through the enterprise-zone/economic-development chapter and does not change what any homeowner or standard builder must meet under the energy code.