Bartow County, GA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Density Bonus Law (2026)

Bartow County's conservation subdivision option, created by Sec. 16, lets a developer trade a fee-simple donation of open greenspace, at least half the tract under Sec. 2, for reduced lot sizes and increased density in the R-1, R-2, R-4, RE-1 and RE-2 districts. Sec. 5 acres in the RE districts and 7,500 square feet in the R districts), and Sec. 4(B) caps overall density at what the normal district standards would allow, except for the bonus carved out in subsection (C). That subsection applies only in RE-1 and RE-2: curb and gutter is not a mandatory conservation-subdivision requirement there, but a developer who chooses to install it anyway receives a 20 percent density bonus, with lot sizes reduced further to make the extra density fit, subject always to County Health Department septic and lot-size rules for properties not on sewer.

The greenspace dedicated to earn the base conservation-subdivision reduction must be donated in perpetuity to the County or a land trust under Sec. 7, and the Zoning Administrator approves or denies the overall conservation subdivision application under Sec. 6, weighing whether the terrain suits greenspace preservation and whether the remaining developable area supports the proposed density. Denials, and approvals, can be appealed within 30 days to the Board of Appeals and from there to the County Commissioner under Article XIV.