Marietta, GA Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

09 creates the Commercial Corridor Design Overlay District to enhance architectural compatibility, pedestrian mobility and the visual character of land near the city's main commercial corridors in and around Downtown Marietta, layering onto whatever the underlying zoning district already requires. The district covers rights-of-way and parcels lying wholly or partly within 750 feet of designated roads, including Whitlock Avenue, Roswell Street, Atlanta Street, Powder Springs Road, Fairground Street and the North and South Marietta Parkways, as mapped on the Official Zoning Map. City staff conduct administrative design review using a point system before approving any applicable development: a project must satisfy every mandatory element in the guidelines and score at least 50% of the possible points in the optional categories, which cover land use mix, site design, building design and streetscape.

Tier A, the more pedestrian-oriented inner zone, caps front setbacks at 16 feet and requires a minimum two-story, 18-foot building height with a maximum of 85 feet, while Tier B relaxes those standards for more auto-oriented stretches of corridor. Single-family homes on individually zoned residential lots, properties inside the Marietta Historic District, and nonconforming structures rebuilt below 50% of replacement cost are exempt, though the Director of Development Services can also waive the overlay administratively if a project won't be visible from the corridor once built.