Barrow County, GA Parking Rules: Loading Zones (2026)

Sec. 89-733 of the Unified Development Code's parking article addresses commercial loading directly. Subsection (a) requires any business or industrial building, hospital, institution or hotel, in any zoning district, to provide adequate off-street facilities for loading and unloading merchandise, supplies, goods or freight within or adjacent to the building, sized as the owner or occupant deems appropriate; whatever facilities are provided cannot obstruct the free flow of vehicle or pedestrian traffic on public streets and sidewalks. Subsection (b) sets a ten-foot setback for loading areas from the front property line, plus an additional ten-foot setback from any required side or rear buffer, and that setback strip has to be landscaped or screened under Sec.

89-735. Subsection (c) then addresses the street itself: loading or unloading business merchandise, supplies, goods or freight within a street right-of-way is prohibited in every zoning district, full stop. The only exception covers furniture, equipment or fixtures being moved for a home or business relocation, and even that requires the street to be classified as a local street under the Development Code, vehicular and pedestrian access to stay open, or the sheriff's department to grant approval based on a finding that adequate traffic safety measures are in place during the move.

Barrow County has no separate ordinance setting loading-dock hours; the controlling limits are the off-street facility requirement, the right-of-way ban, and the narrow relocation exception. The planning and community development director enforces the setback and facility requirements, while the sheriff's department controls the right-of-way exception.