Before You Build in Johns Creek, GA: Permit & Rule Checklist (2026)

Johns Creek caps fences and walls at eight feet from grade in residential districts. Columns and ornamental features may rise up to three feet above that maximum. The rule is set by Section 4.11.E of the city Zoning Ordinance and applies citywide regardless of whether a permit is required.

A standard new or replacement fence on a single-family lot does NOT require a Johns Creek permit, unless it adjoins a public right-of-way, sits in the 75-foot stream buffer, or lies in the river corridor. Permits are obtained through the Customer Self-Service portal; agricultural AG-1 fences are exempt.

Johns Creek requires that fences and walls built along property lines present their finished side toward the neighboring property. The city code does not assign cost-sharing or boundary disputes; those are governed by Georgia property law and any HOA covenants. Surveys are required when a permit applies.

Johns Creek treats walls as fences for height/setback purposes under Section 4.11, but structural retaining walls are also governed by the Georgia building code. Under the state-adopted residential code, a retaining wall over four feet (or any wall retaining a surcharge) needs a building permit and engineered design.

Johns Creek allows most conventional fence materials in residential yards but bars wire, plastic, and insert-style chain-link adjoining a street right-of-way (except AG-1, M-1, M-1A). Concrete and block walls need design approval. Where opacity is required, fences must be visually solid. Commercial fences face stricter material lists.

Johns Creek's Zoning Ordinance (Sec. 19.3.12) requires every private pool to be completely surrounded by an enclosure - a fence, wall, or building - at least 5 feet high, with self-closing, positive-latching gates. The enclosure must be locked when the pool is not in use, with a 5-foot unclimbable space, and must be in place before pool completion.

A building permit is required to install a residential swimming pool or spa in Johns Creek. The city enforces the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code with Georgia Amendments. Pool work is reviewed by Community Development, and the safety barrier is permitted as part of the pool permit, with a site plan showing dimensions to property lines.

Johns Creek combines a local zoning enclosure mandate (Sec. 19.3.12) with the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, Georgia Amendments. Pools must be fully enclosed, gates self-latching and locked when unattended, and a 5-foot unclimbable buffer maintained. Construction must comply with Fulton County Health Department regulations.

Above-ground pools deeper than 24 inches require a building permit in Johns Creek under the 2024 ISPSC with Georgia Amendments. They are subject to the same zoning enclosure (5-foot fence, self-latching gates) and 10-foot property-line setback as in-ground pools, and must comply with Fulton County Health Department rules.

Johns Creek requires a building permit for spas and hot tubs, including portable spas, under the 2024 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code with Georgia Amendments. Spas serving a dwelling fall under the same zoning pool standards (Sec. 19.3.12), including the 5-foot enclosure rule and 10-foot property-line setback for detached homes.

Johns Creek allows a detached accessory dwelling unit, called a Guest House, on single-family lots. Zoning Ordinance Section 19.3.5 caps it at one per lot, 650-1,500 sq ft of heated floor area, rear yard only, with principal-building setbacks. It may have a kitchen but cannot be rented.

Johns Creek does not have a code section specifically titled garage conversions. The Zoning Ordinance lists detached garages as accessory structures, requires them in the rear or side yard outside the setback, and lets garage parking count toward required single-family parking. Converting a garage to living space implicates the minimum-parking and Guest House rules.

Johns Creek lists sheds as accessory structures (Zoning Ordinance Art. III). Section 4.5.1 requires them to be built with or after the main house, and each residential district (Art. VI) requires accessory structures to sit in the rear or side yard and outside the minimum yard (setback). The Ordinance sets no separate numeric height or size cap for sheds.

Johns Creek lists detached carports as accessory structures (Zoning Ordinance Art. III), so they must sit in the rear or side yard outside the minimum setback. Under Art. XVIII, carport spaces count toward required single-family parking, with no more than two such spaces offsetting the minimum, and a carport is excluded from the canopy definition.

Johns Creek's Zoning Ordinance has no provision specifically for tiny homes. A detached tiny dwelling on a single-family lot would be regulated as a Guest House (§ 19.3.5: 650-1,500 sq ft, rear yard, one per lot, no rent), and mobile homes are restricted, allowed in residential districts only temporarily while a home is built.

Johns Creek allows recreational fires for cooking food for immediate consumption without a permit, but other open burning needs a special permit from the Fire Marshal. Burn-pile fires must be daylight only, max 4 ft by 4 ft, and at least 50 ft from any structure or wooden fence.

Open burning in Johns Creek requires a special permit from the Fire Marshal (except cooking fires). A pit burn permit allows only land-clearing pit fires of trees, logs, brush and stumps. Georgia's statewide burn ban prohibits most outdoor burning May 1–September 30.

Johns Creek's tree rules focus on preservation, not routine pruning. Trimming healthy trees on your own developed single-family lot generally needs no permit, but you may not remove or disturb a specimen tree, or any tree in a protected zone, without written permission from the City Arborist.

On a developed single-family lot, Johns Creek allows tree removal without a permit only when the tree is outside any protected zone and is not a specimen tree. Removing a specimen tree, or any tree in a buffer or tree save area, requires written City Arborist permission and may require replacement planting.

Johns Creek follows Georgia's statewide Water Stewardship Act. Outdoor landscape watering with publicly supplied water is allowed only between 4 p.m. and 10 a.m. year-round under non-drought conditions. Water service in the city is provided by Fulton County from the Chattahoochee River.