Planning & Development

COVID-19 Response

Hall County understands and recognizes the importance of permitting and inspections to our whole community, and is balancing these critical services with the responsibility we have to help fight the spread of COVID-19. The safety of our citizens and staff is of the utmost importance to us.

The Hall County Government Building is now open to the public by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, please call 770-535-8288, but if your business can be conducted by phone or email, you are encouraged to do so. We have established temporary submittal procedures for development plans, plats, and building permits, which is outlined below. We will provide updates as new policies are implemented.

Our office is committed to providing the best service to our stakeholders throughout this period. Please see the below information on how to proceed with you request.

Building Permits:

In order to process your request for a building permit we will need you to provide the following information: 

• A completed copy of the online submission form, which can be found here.
• If you are proposing a new structure or addition to the property we will need a detailed site plan.  The site plan is the most important component of your request.  The site plan needs to be drawn to an engineering scale that shows the dimensions of the proposed structure and how far this structure is away from all existing structures and property lines. We currently do not have the ability to print the site plans out and so everything must be accurately labeled for us to approve. 
• A copy of your recorded plat. If you do not have a copy please contact the Deeds and Records room (770-531-7058).
• A completed copy the owner authorization form. Please have this filled out, have it notarized, and include a copy of your photo ID and business license, if necessary. This form is only necessary if you are not the property owner. A copy of the form can be found here.

Please submit the completed packet to planning@hallcounty.org for review and processing to ensure compliance with Hall County regulations. A representative from Hall County Planning will let you know we have received the permit request and any additional information that may be needed.  If your request can be approved we will email either Hall County Environmental Health or Building Inspections letting them know of our approval. You will be copied on the email so that a representative from their department may contact you to proceed with your request. Please note, approval from Hall County Planning does not mean you have obtained a building permit. Your request must be reviewed and approved, if necessary, by Environmental Health before a building permit can be obtained.

Building Inspections:

Building Inspection offices are closed to the public until further notice. However, our staff is in the office and continuing to support critical public services, including conducting inspections, providing information over the phone, and responding to emails. For general questions or for urgent matters regarding existing permits and building inspections please email, Lamar Carver, lcarver@hallcounty.org or Peggy Pierce, ppierce@hallcounty.org.

Development Review:

Reviews for plans previously submitted are temporarily delayed as we establish new procedures in order to move these projects forward. Development Review Committee members are currently reviewing existing projects from home and will be communicating with applicants directly. For specific questions relating to your project, or questions regarding new projects, please contact Beth Garmon, Development Review Coordinator, at egarmon@hallcounty.org.

Plat Review:

Due to office closures, the plat review process has been modified to allow the continued submittal and review of plats. Please email the plat to planning@hallcounty.org along with the completed forms (Online Permit Application and Environmental Health Plat Review Application). The PDF will be reviewed by Planning, Engineering, and Environmental Health. After the initial review, comments will be provided to the surveyor indicating what revisions will be necessary in order to approve the plat. The surveyor or applicant may then mail at least 3 full-size paper copies of the plat for final approval stamps. Plats should include a mailing label for the return of the stamped plats. Approved plats may also be emailed to the surveyor as a PDF.

The plat review process previously took between 3-4 weeks; please allow additional time as most reviewers and departments are working remotely at this time.

Special Use, Variance, and Rezoning Requests:

New applications for special use permits, variances, and rezoning requests are still be accepted digitally. Please contact Beth Garmon, egarmon@hallcounty.org or Katie Greenway, kgreenway@hallcounty.org to schedule a preapplication phone call. Due to the nature of these requests incomplete applications will not be processed. You will find a link to each of these requests in the navigation menu on the left of this page. 

Finally, please feel free to contact planning@hallcounty.org with any additional questions.