Macon-Bibb County, GA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

Macon-Bibb County's downtown core is split into two zoning chapters, CBD-1 Central Business District (Chapter 13A) and CBD-2 Central Business District (Chapter 13B), both intended, in the Resolution's words, to promote a harmonious tenant mix and protect the architectural character of the downtown area. 10 for CBD-2 make a certificate of appropriateness mandatory before any building, structure or landscape feature visible from a public right-of-way, including walls, fences, steps and paving, is erected, reconstructed, altered, restored, moved or demolished within the district. The requirement also reaches signs, fences and walls displayed on any lot in the district.

01[4](a) or (b). 05 requires it for the Historic Beall's Hill (HBH) district and directs staff to apply the Beall's Hill Design Guidelines, dated May 14, 2007, to residential work and the separate Design Guidelines for Macon's Historic Zoning Districts to non-residential construction and modifications visible from the right-of-way. An applicant must submit a complete application, a to-scale site plan showing setbacks, elevation drawings for every side of the proposed or existing structure, and photographs of existing conditions; the Commission's Design Review Board reviews the package under Chapter 28, though staff can approve pre-approved infill designs at the staff level. All of these provisions were most recently amended by a resolution the Commission adopted December 9, 2024.