Hall County, GA Ordinances (2026)

Unincorporated Hall County levies an 8 percent excise tax on the rent charged for every guest room in a hotel, motel, inn, tourist camp, campground, or similar lodging under Code of…

Hall County classifies wildlife-permit animals, wild hybrids and several giant constrictor snakes as hazardous animals. Owners must register the animal annually with Animal Control…

Hall County runs a community cat/feral cat colony program that exempts enrolled cats from registration, licensing and stray-animal rules, and shields healthy ear-tipped cats from…

Hall County makes it unlawful for any owner of a dog, cat or other domesticated animal to let it run at large and not under restraint anywhere in the unincorporated county. Animal…

Hall County requires the Animal Shelter and other rescues to sterilize every dog or cat before adoption, or get a signed agreement that the adopter will sterilize it within 30 days (or…

Since a January 2025 amendment, every domesticated animal reclaimed from the Hall County Animal Shelter, except community cats, must be microchipped before leaving impoundment, with…

Hall County bans pet shops from selling, exchanging or otherwise transferring dogs and cats commercially. Stores may only host adoption space for animal control facilities or rescue…

Hall County allows livestock and poultry as an accessory use to a single-family home, but requires at least 15,000 square feet of land per animal and keeps any animal structure at…

A veterinary clinic that lets animals outside falls under "Animal Care (Outdoor)" in Sec. 7.5.8.C of the Hall County UDC, which requires a five-acre minimum lot in the AG-1, AR-1 and…

Hall County classifies a dog as dangerous or potentially dangerous based on its own behavior, not its breed. Section 4.10.100 defines both terms by prior bites, attacks or a known…

Hall County zones pet grooming businesses as "Animal Care (Indoor)" under Sec. 7.5.8.B, defined as a facility caring for animals with no outdoor activity beyond a 2,000-square-foot pet…

Hall County limits door-to-door solicitation to 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays with no Sunday or holiday calls, bars re-visiting the same address more than once every six months, and…

Anyone canvassing, peddling, or soliciting door to door in unincorporated Hall County needs a $100 permit, a background check with fingerprints run through the GBI and FBI, and a photo…

Hall County levies its business occupation tax on a sliding scale tied to employee count rather than gross receipts. A one-person shop pays $150 a year, while a firm with over 1,000…

Hall County does not levy a broad annual vacancy tax, but its Vacant and Foreclosed Property ordinance forces owners of empty or foreclosed homes to register with the Marshal's Office…

Hall County requires a separate adult establishment license plus an individual employee license for anyone working at one, and bans locating within 750 feet of homes, schools…

Hall County bars vehicle repair entirely from a home occupation, but allows a limited auto repair shop under the "rural business" home-based business tier, with no more than two…

Hall County requires a background investigation before issuing a business license to a pawn brokerage under Sec. 5.10.550, and pawn brokers are one of the business types the county can…

Hall County requires anyone in the secondhand sales business, alongside pawnbrokers and precious metal dealers, to pass a background investigation before the county issues a business…

Anyone operating a tattoo or body-piercing studio in Hall County needs a permit from the county board of health before applying for a business license, must pay a $75.00 annual…

Hall County zones a "Smoke or Vape Shop" under Sec. 7.5.11.E as any business whose principal use is selling or allowing on-site use of tobacco, alternative nicotine products or vape…

Operating a flea market, outdoor exhibition, outdoor musical festival, or other outdoor public assembly in unincorporated Hall County requires a business license reserved specifically…

Hall County requires a special events business license, issued at the board of commissioners' discretion, before anyone runs an outdoor exhibition, performance, musical festival, or…

Hall County bans aggressive or intimidating solicitation on streets and highways outright, restricts street solicitation to nonprofit and charitable groups with a business license…

Possessing, using, consuming or selling alcohol in any Hall County-owned or operated recreation facility is unlawful under § 2.50.140 unless the Board of Commissioners approves and the…

Installing utility lines in a Hall County road right-of-way outside any municipality requires a written permit. Public utilities apply to the county engineer for a $10.00 permit under…

Hall County Engineering Division inspects sidewalks in county right-of-way and assigns repair responsibility by who caused the damage: a resident, their guests, or their contractor…

Outdoor watering of lawns, gardens and other landscaping in unincorporated Hall County is confined to the hours between 4:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. under County Code § 13.21.010. County…

Hall County zones composting as a Waste Related Service, permitted by right only in the AG-1 and AR-1 agricultural districts and the I-1 and I-2 industrial districts. A commercial or…

Inside Hall County's Gateway Corridor Overlay District, grass, weeds or undergrowth over 8 inches on any residential, institutional, commercial or industrial lot must be trimmed or…

On property not exempted under Sec. 8.3.3.B, unincorporated Hall County requires a permit and an approved tree protection plan before removing or killing a significant tree, or any…

Every manufactured home installed in unincorporated Hall County must have an operable battery-powered smoke detector in each bedroom and the kitchen area, installed per the…

Hall County Code § 8.100.030 makes it unlawful to sell, ignite, possess, manufacture, transport or store consumer fireworks in the unincorporated county except as § 8.100.040 or state…

Any authorized open fire in unincorporated Hall County, including a backyard fire pit, must sit at least 50 feet from a structure unless the site includes measures to stop it…

Section 8.110.010 bans open burning anywhere in unincorporated Hall County unless it fits one of seven listed exceptions, from agricultural burning to firefighter training fires…

Electrical work in unincorporated Hall County is permitted under the 2005 National Electrical Code adopted at § 15.10.020, administered through the same building-official, fee and…

Hall County does not mandate residential sprinklers countywide, but a short-term rental with more than six bedrooms must either install a sprinkler system, fire alarm, and pass an…

Before building, altering or demolishing any structure in unincorporated Hall County, an owner must obtain a building permit under UDC § 1.2.1, plus comply with the codes adopted in…

Hall County licenses a "day care center" under Sec. 7.5.2.C as any state-licensed facility caring for 19 or more children under 18 for less than 24 hours a day. The Unified Development…

Building permits and inspections in unincorporated Hall County run through the Hall County Building Inspections Department under County Code § 15.10.030, which renames the state…

Plumbing work in unincorporated Hall County is permitted under the 2000 International Plumbing Code adopted at § 15.10.020, with its administration chapter replaced at § 15.10.080 by…

Hall County tows vehicles left unattended on county-owned property in violation of its parking rules, moving them to the sheriff's abandoned-vehicle storage area under Code of…

Hall County's off-street parking rules let a site count EV-charging-equipped spaces at a discount: each EV space credits at a 1.5-to-1 ratio against the minimum standard-space…

Building or altering a driveway or curb cut on or abutting a county road right-of-way requires a permit from the building official under Code of Ordinances § 12.40.040. Design…

A Hall County residential business may park just one commercial vehicle on-site, limited to a passenger car, van, or light truck up to one ton, in an approved parking area. A home…

Along any public road right-of-way the board of commissioners has designated as a no-parking area, Hall County Code § 10.70.010 bars stopping, standing or parking a vehicle except to…

Every business, trade or industrial building in unincorporated Hall County must provide off-street loading space sized per Table 8.1.3, on the same lot as the building, with at least…

Within Hall County's Gateway Corridor Overlay District, new commercial, office, institutional and industrial buildings must keep dumpsters, garbage cans and grease containers out of…

Hall County's solid waste code keeps yard trimmings out of the sanitary landfill and every county compactor site. Section 8.60.300 lists yard trimmings alongside tires and hazardous…

At Hall County's solid waste compactor and container sites, household garbage must be bagged in sturdy, closed paper or plastic bags no larger than 39 gallons and placed inside the…

Hall County caps how much recyclable corrugated cardboard private disposal facilities may accept for burial: anything over a ten percent allowance is a violation, and haulers or…

Hall County does not run curbside pickup routes for unincorporated residents; instead, section 8.60.040 requires the county to operate landfills and county-maintained household garbage…

Hall County's solid waste code requires haulers and disposal facilities in the unincorporated county to keep recyclable corrugated cardboard out of the landfill and other disposal…

Dumping, depositing, throwing or leaving litter on any public or private property or waters in Hall County is unlawful under § 8.160.030 unless it goes into a designated disposal site…

Hall County requires a film permit from the business license office before anyone films outside an established studio, and noise is one of the specific factors the office weighs before…

Hall County has no separate street-closure permit for filming; instead, traffic and street impact are folded into the film permit itself. The business license office weighs…

Filming anywhere in unincorporated Hall County outside an established studio or enclosed building requires a film permit from the Business License Office, applied for at least two…

Hall County's Unified Development Code sets minimum yard setbacks by zoning district in Article 3 and Article 4 dimensional-standards tables: agricultural AG-1 and AR-1 parcels must…

In Hall County's AG-1 Agricultural district, Table 3.1.1 caps site coverage at 35 percent of the lot, alongside a 5-acre minimum lot size and a 50-foot maximum building height. The…

Hall County caps building height by zoning district under UDC § 2.1.6, measuring from mean finished grade to the highest point of the roof or parapet; agricultural and low-density…

Hall County makes it unlawful to rent a short-term rental in the unincorporated county without first registering the business and obtaining a business license under chapter 5.100. A…

Hall County requires the owner or local contact person of a short-term rental to use best efforts to keep occupants from violating the county's noise regulations in title 8, notifying…

Hall County's short-term rental ordinance escalates penalties with each violation inside a rolling 12-month window: a written notice and up to $500 for a first offense, up to $1,000…

Hall County caps short-term rental occupancy at two guests per bedroom plus three, verified by a county building inspection before a certificate of occupancy issues. Rentals over six…

Hall County bars short-term rental guests from parking on the county right-of-way or along roadways at any time. Vehicles must stay on designated hard-surfaced areas of gravel…

Hall County collects an 8 percent excise tax on short-term rental occupancy under section 3.40.020, on top of the business license fees required by chapter 5.100. Owners must also pay…

Every owner of a dwelling, building, structure or property in unincorporated Hall County must keep it in conformance with applicable codes under § 8.140.020, or it can be declared a…

Vacant or undeveloped lots inside Hall County's Gateway Corridor Overlay District must have grass, weeds or undergrowth trimmed or removed once it tops 12 inches, under the GCOD…

Unincorporated Hall County flatly bans illumination of off-premises signs. Sec. 8.6.19.B.8 of the Unified Development Code allows no lighting, internal or external, on billboards, a…

Hall County has no countywide dark-sky ordinance, but nonresidential development along its designated Gateway Corridor Overlay District, covering stretches of routes like S.R. 129…

Along Hall County's nine designated Gateway Corridors, the Unified Development Code requires every outdoor light fixture to use semi-cutoff optics, the shielded design that aims glare…

Hall County's open-burning ban in § 8.110.010 carves out recreational fires and cooking food for immediate human consumption, so a backyard smoker, grill or campfire meant for eating…

A backyard shed under 144 square feet can sit as close as 5 feet from the side or rear property line in unincorporated Hall County, but only if it isn't on a permanent foundation or…

Hall County allows one accessory dwelling unit (ADU) per principal home, capped between 300 and 1,000 square feet and never larger than the main house. The ADU must be site-built, not…

Hall County requires every engine exhaust, whether on a car, stationary engine, or motor boat, to run through a muffler that stops loud or explosive noise, and it bans unnecessary or…

Hall County's noise code flatly declares it unlawful to run a loudspeaker or sound amplifier on the public streets for commercial advertising or to draw attention to a building…

Between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., Hall County treats a radio, phonograph, or similar device audible from 100 feet away as automatic evidence of a noise violation. Section 8.80.020B…

Hall County bans keeping a domesticated or agricultural animal that makes loud, unnecessary or unusual noise audible more than 100 feet away and that unreasonably disturbs the comfort…

Every Hall County short-term rental must have a local contact person who can reach the property 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and who must respond within one hour of being…

Hall County requires complaints about a short-term rental to go through two steps: contact the owner or the license's designated local contact person first, and only file a written…

Hall County's public officer can find a dwelling, building or structure unfit for habitation or business use, and thus in violation of Chapter 8.140, based on the six conditions listed…

New conveyor car washes built in unincorporated Hall County after January 1, 2011 must install an operational recycled water system that reuses at least 50 percent of the water used in…

Hall County's Unified Development Code treats a data center as a Special Use that the Board of Commissioners must individually approve, and confines the use to the I-1 and I-2…

In unincorporated Hall County, residential fences and walls must be built of wood, brick, stone, decorative metal or aluminum, or split rail; barbed wire is allowed only for permitted…

Fences and walls are allowed in every zoning district in unincorporated Hall County, and a building permit is not required as long as the fence or wall meets the standards of UDC Sec…

Hall County caps fences at 7 feet in side and rear yards, 6 feet in yards adjacent to a street, and walls at 4 feet for all uses under UDC Sec. 8.2.2.A, with a separate…

Unincorporated Hall County protects trees rated a "significant tree" under UDC Sec. 8.3.2: hardwoods and softwoods 18 inches DBH or larger, and dogwoods, redbuds, or sourwoods 8 inches…

A sign advertising a permitted home occupation in unincorporated Hall County cannot exceed 1 square foot, cannot be illuminated, and must be attached to the structure where the home…

Hall County treats an in-home day care as a "family day care facility" under Sec. 7.5.2.D: a private residence, licensed or registered with the State of Georgia, where the resident is…

A Hall County home occupation may not allow customers or the public to come to the premises at all. The resident is limited to two business vehicles (a car, van or truck up to one…

Hall County zones a home occupation as an accessory use conducted entirely inside a dwelling by its resident practitioner, who must hold a current business license the whole time the…

New billboards are banned outright in unincorporated Hall County under UDC Sec. 8.6.18, but Sec. 8.6.19.C allows converting an existing legal static billboard to digital only if two…

A garage sale sign in unincorporated Hall County qualifies as a "residential temporary sign" under UDC Sec. 8.6.4.F, so it needs no permit as long as it stays under 6 square feet and…

A window sign in unincorporated Hall County, meaning any sign attached to the interior or exterior face of a window, door, or display case and meant to be seen from outside, cannot…

In unincorporated Hall County, billboards visible from a divided four-lane highway or a limited or controlled access highway face tighter spacing and larger size allowances than…

Hall County's Allowed Use Table (Table 7.2.1) zones Mobile Food Establishments differently by district: a Conditional Use Permit is required in the AG-1 and AR-1 rural districts, the…

Hall County classifies a food truck as a Mobile Food Establishment temporary use under UDC Sec. 7.9.2. Operators need County licensing covering business-license and public-health…

New residential construction in Hall County's mapped floodplain must sit at least three feet above the base flood elevation, a full two feet beyond FEMA's usual one-foot freeboard…

Hall County's Unified Development Code defines a marina under Sec. 7.4.2.C as a dock or basin providing secure moorings for private watercraft. On Lake Lanier and elsewhere in the…

New development in unincorporated Hall County must treat stormwater before it leaves the site: Sec. 10.5.8.D requires the system to remove at least 80 percent of the average annual…

No owner or developer may start any development activity in a Hall County area of special flood hazard or future-conditions flood hazard without first meeting the county's flood…

Hall County requires a land-disturbing permit and state-approved best management practices for construction sites under Sec. 10.1.3, and Sec. 10.1.3.C.20 sets a 25-foot vegetated…

Hall County's UDC caps a yard or garage sale at 72 hours per event and limits any single property to four sales in a rolling 12-month period. Consignment goods or items bought…

Hall County's solid waste code bans storing junk and salvage material outdoors on any public or private land in the unincorporated county unless it sits inside a permitted junk or…

Unincorporated Hall County enforces minimum residential habitability standards under the 1994 Standard Housing Code, adopted by reference at § 15.90.010; the building official inspects…

Residential swimming pools in unincorporated Hall County are built under the 2000 International Building Code adopted at § 15.10.020, whose pool-enclosure section the county amended at…

Hall County requires manufactured home park pools to sit behind at least a four-foot fence with a self-latching or self-closing gate under UDC § 4.7.4.A.7.a; separately, the county's…

Hall County protects agricultural land use through its AG-1 Agricultural General zoning district, reserved under UDC § 3.1.1 for agricultural, residential and compatible commercial or…

Hall County recreation facilities close to the public between 12:01 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. daily under Code § 2.50.200. Only authorized staff and campers in designated overnight camping…