Barrow County, GA Parking Rules: Driveway Rules (2026)

Sec. 89-732(a)(2), inside the improvement-of-parking-areas section of the Unified Development Code's parking article, sets two related rules. First, county-wide, in every zoning district: parking any vehicle on a lot on anything other than a surface treated and hardened to accommodate that vehicle is prohibited, meaning grass, dirt or gravel that has not been built to the county's paving standard does not count as a legal parking surface. Second, specifically for residential (R) districts, the section bans parking in the front yard or in front of the principal building line altogether, except on a hard-surfaced driveway or inside a carport or garage.

That closes off the workaround of parking on the lawn beside a paved driveway; the vehicle has to be on the hard surface itself, or under cover. Subsection (a)(1) backs this up by requiring new parking areas and access drives (outside single-family, two-family and agricultural districts) to be built with at least a six-inch graded aggregate base topped with two inches of asphalt, or an approved porous alternative, and subsection (a)(4) requires curb and gutter around commercial and industrial lots. Subsection (e) gives owners a firm deadline too: required parking areas, including the surfacing, must be ready before occupancy of a new building, or within 45 days of a change-of-occupancy permit for an existing one, though the director of public works can grant an extension for bad weather. The planning and community development director enforces the section under the UDC's general inspection and cease-and-desist authority.