Copyright 2024 by Forsyth County, Georgia

Zoning Board of Appeals

The Zoning Board of Appeals, also known as the ZBA, is a quasi-judicial board that is appointed by the Board of Commissioners. Although each member is appointed to represent a specific Commission District (by the individual District Commissioner), they vote on all applications for all districts. The ZBA is tasked with holding a public hearing on all appeals of administrative decisions and all variances; with the exception of variance requests that would simultaneously apply to four (4) or more existing or proposed lots or units within a single subdivision, or for variance requests that were filed and scheduled to be considered simultaneously and pertaining to the same property with another application in which the authority to hold the public hearing rests with either the Planning Commission or Board of Commissioners. The ZBA does have decision making authority; however their decisions may be appealed to the Board of Commissioners.

Effective January 1, 2021, all applications for variances are to be submitted electronically through the Forsyth County online Customer Self Service portal (CSS).  The online CSS portal allows customers to submit applications and make Visa/Mastercard payments electronically.