Sandy Springs Residential Land Disturbance Permits: 20 Questions Homeowners and Builders Ask Us

Sandy Springs regulates single-family construction more tightly than almost any other North Fulton jurisdiction: a 1,000-square-foot trigger for both land disturbance and stormwater, a 35% tree-canopy floor, 75-foot stream buffers and a Chattahoochee corridor that reaches 2,000 feet inland. Teardown-rebuilds, large additions, pools and sport courts all run into these rules. Here are the twenty questions homeowners, builders and architects ask us most about residential land disturbance permits in Sandy Springs, answered from the city’s published code and checklists.

The 20 questions

1. When does a house project in Sandy Springs need a land disturbance permit?

The city states that an LDP is generally required when 1,000 square feet or more of ground disturbance is proposed, including grading, clearing, paving or grubbing, under Article 9 of the Development Code, and that a permit may also be required for smaller disturbances that need erosion-control BMPs or change topography or drainage patterns (City of Sandy Springs, Land Disturbance Permits). A new house, a pool, a sport court and most additions cross the threshold.

2. What type of LDP applies to a single-family lot?

The city issues three types: Commercial Site Improvements, Residential Site Improvements and Subdivision Development. A teardown-rebuild, addition, pool or driveway on an individual lot is a Residential Site Improvements LDP (City of Sandy Springs, Land Disturbance Permits).

3. How do I apply?

Through the city’s online permitting portal, which handles the application, drawings, invoices, inspection requests and status tracking; applicants can also book a QLess appointment with a permit technician at City Hall (City of Sandy Springs, Land Disturbance Permits). The application must state total lot area and disturbed area in acres or square feet (Sandy Springs LDP Application Guide).

4. What drawings are required?

A cover sheet with address and sheet index; an existing-conditions survey; a site plan showing setbacks, buffers, easements, lot-coverage calculations and existing water, sewer or septic services; grading and drainage plans; retaining wall details where applicable; erosion-control plans with BMP locations and standard details; and a tree conservation plan with canopy calculations (City of Sandy Springs, Land Disturbance Permits). Plans must comply with the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual and the Manual for Erosion and Sedimentation Control in Georgia.

5. What are the permit fees?

For residential projects, the city lists a $25 administrative fee, a $100 review fee, a land disturbance permit fee of $200 per lot, a $50 CO/CC fee and a technology fee (City of Sandy Springs, Land Disturbance Permits). The city fees are small relative to the engineering, survey and arborist work the submittal requires.

6. When does a house project trigger stormwater management?

At 1,000 square feet of new impervious surface. The single-family site plan checklist requires stormwater facilities providing runoff reduction for 1.2 inches of runoff from all impervious surfaces on the site, configured so the designed discharge duration exceeds 24 hours, with voids in stone infiltration trenches counted at 40% of stone volume (Sandy Springs Single Family Site Plan Checklist). The city lowered the trigger from 5,000 to 1,000 square feet and raised retention from 1.0 to 1.2 inches in 2016, specifically noting it would capture most home additions (Sandy Springs Stormwater Policy Changes, 2016.pdf)).

7. How big is a typical residential infiltration system?

Larger than most owners expect. A 4,000-square-foot house footprint plus 1,500 square feet of driveway and 600 square feet of pool deck is 6,100 square feet of impervious surface; 1.2 inches over that area is about 610 cubic feet of runoff. At 40% voids that is roughly 1,525 cubic feet of stone, for example a trench 4 feet wide, 4 feet deep and about 95 feet long, placed outside the stream buffer, septic field and tree-save areas. Soil infiltration rates decide whether it works; our stormwater design and hydrology page explains how we size and test it.

8. What is different in the Nancy Creek basin?

The city designated part of the Nancy Creek basin a Sensitive Area under Section 2.2.2.1 of the Georgia Stormwater Management Manual, which imposes additional stormwater retention and infiltration requirements there (City of Sandy Springs, Flood Zone). If your parcel drains to Nancy Creek, ask about the sensitive-area standards before you size anything.

9. How wide are the stream buffers?

Sandy Springs requires a minimum 75-foot stream buffer along designated streams and water bodies once state waters are identified, and construction within that corridor is heavily regulated or restricted (City of Sandy Springs, Streams and Creeks). The city’s StreamBufferQuickDraw map layer is the first check; a field determination by the engineer or a qualified professional confirms it.

10. What is the Chattahoochee River Corridor?

All property within 2,000 feet of the Chattahoochee River falls under the Metropolitan River Protection Act corridor, with its own land-disturbance and vulnerability limits administered through the Atlanta Regional Commission in addition to the city’s review (City of Sandy Springs, Streams and Creeks). Corridor review adds time and limits impervious surface; it belongs in the schedule from day one.

11. Can I build in the floodplain?

No. The city states that new building construction is not permitted within the floodplain (City of Sandy Springs, Flood Zone). Lots with mapped floodplain need the limit surveyed and shown before any footprint is drawn.

12. What is the tree canopy requirement?

Residential lots must retain a minimum of 35% canopy cover after construction, protected by tree-save fencing shown on the plan (Sandy Springs Erosion Control and Tree Conservation). Removals that drop a residential lot below 35% require payment of $1,200 per 1,000 square feet of canopy deficit into the Tree Fund before the permit issues, plus replacement planting at 100% of the canopy removed with trees of at least 2.5-inch caliper (Sandy Springs Tree Removal Permit application). Landmark tree removal carries separate mitigation (Sandy Springs Land Development 101).

13. Which trees need a permit to remove?

Any tree 18 inches DBH or larger, any dogwood or redbud 10 inches DBH or larger, and any tree within a stream buffer or the Chattahoochee River Corridor (City of Sandy Springs, Tree Removal Permits). Hazardous or declining trees need photos or a certified arborist’s report with the application.

14. What are the lot coverage limits?

They vary by district. The Development Code’s dimensional standards table sets, for example, 25% maximum lot coverage in RE-1 and 35% in RD-18, with lot coverage calculated as the total of all impervious areas divided by lot area (Sandy Springs Development Code; Sandy Springs Build Seminar, RD-18 example). On an 18,000-square-foot RD-18 lot, 35% is 6,300 square feet for the house, drive, walks, pool deck and patios combined.

15. What are the height and accessory structure rules?

No building may exceed 40 feet, measured from average grade plane to average roof height, and accessory structures may be located in rear or side yards only, subject to use standards (Sandy Springs Residential Permitting Information). The home must be built to the approved site plan; any variation must be re-approved.

16. When does a retaining wall need its own permit or an engineer?

A retaining wall over four feet in height requires a separate retaining wall permit, and a wall over six feet must be designed by a Georgia professional engineer (Sandy Springs Minimum Submittal Requirements). Wall locations and elevations are required on the LDP site plan regardless of height (Sandy Springs LDP Application Guide).

17. Which outside agencies have to sign off?

Water plans are approved by the City of Atlanta unless an existing meter is reused; sanitary sewer plans by the Fulton County Department of Public Works unless an existing tap is reused; and septic plans by the Fulton County Health Department where no sewer is available. If a demolition permit has been applied for, its number goes on the LDP application (Sandy Springs Minimum Submittal Requirements). Driveways follow the Fulton County Driveway Manual (City of Sandy Springs, Land Disturbance Permits).

18. What affidavits are required?

A contractor affidavit with a copy of the state license for every contractor and subcontractor; an authorized agent affidavit for third parties acting for the owner; and a residential owner-contractor affidavit if the owner is acting as their own contractor (Sandy Springs LDP Application Guide). An NOI to Georgia EPD through the GEOS system is required only if disturbance exceeds one acre.

19. What happens if the plans keep getting comments?

Before a third submittal, a meeting among the designer, owner and reviewer is mandatory or the plans will not be accepted (Sandy Springs Minimum Submittal Requirements). In our experience, the items that generate third-round comments are canopy math, infiltration placement and buffer encroachments, all of which are resolvable before the first submittal with a good survey.

20. What site inspections should I expect?

The permit must be posted at the right-of-way at eye level near the driveway, and the noise ordinance and legal working hours posted in three locations; no posted permit means no inspection. Site inspections run from erosion-control installation through a final site inspection that is due only when all landscaping is complete (Sandy Springs Residential Permitting Information). The as-built detention facility form and maintenance agreement close out the stormwater system (City of Sandy Springs, Land Disturbance Permits).

How Mack Engineering handles a Sandy Springs residential LDP

We start with a current boundary and tree survey, run the canopy and lot-coverage math, locate the stream buffer and corridor lines, and size the 1.2-inch infiltration system before the architect finalizes the footprint. The construction set then goes in once, with the Atlanta water, Fulton sewer or septic approvals already in motion. See our Atlanta civil engineering and Roswell pages for the area work, and our post on backyard drainage problems for what happens when infiltration is designed badly. If you want the house built by the same family of companies, our sister company builds custom homes and whole-home renovations through its design-build process and serves Roswell and the surrounding North Fulton area.

Related reading

• Stormwater Design & Hydrology Studies Atlanta
• Civil Engineer in Atlanta, GA: Site Design & Permitting
• Civil Engineering Services in Roswell, GA
• Backyard Drainage Ditch Problems
• Our 5-Step Design-Build Process (Mack Development)
• Custom Home Builder in Roswell, GA (Mack Development)

Sources

• City of Sandy Springs, Land Disturbance Permits (thresholds, drawing list, fees)
• City of Sandy Springs, LDP Application Guide (January 2023)
• City of Sandy Springs, Minimum Submittal Requirements (retaining walls, outside-agency approvals, third-submittal meeting)
• City of Sandy Springs, Residential Permitting Information (height, accessory structures, posting, inspections)
• City of Sandy Springs, Single Family Site Plan Checklist (1.2-inch runoff reduction, 24-hour drawdown, 40% voids)
• City of Sandy Springs, Stormwater Policy Changes (2016)
• City of Sandy Springs, Streams and Creeks (75-foot buffer; Chattahoochee River Corridor 2,000 feet)
• City of Sandy Springs, Flood Zone (no new construction in floodplain; Nancy Creek sensitive area)
• City of Sandy Springs, Tree Removal Permits
• City of Sandy Springs, Erosion Control and Tree Conservation (35% canopy)
• City of Sandy Springs, Build Seminar: Land Development 101
• City of Sandy Springs, Build Seminar: RD-18 lot parameters example (35% lot coverage, 35% canopy)
• City of Sandy Springs, Development Code and Technical Manual
• City of Sandy Springs Tree Removal Permit application (Tree Fund $1,200 per 1,000 sq ft deficit; 2.5-inch caliper replacement)

This article is general information, not a site-specific engineering opinion. Code requirements and local ordinances change; confirm current requirements with the authority having jurisdiction for your property.