Permits and Site | Impact Fees

Atlanta Development Impact Fees for Duplexes and Small Multifamily (2026)

A development impact fee is a one-time charge on a new building that pays for the roads, parks, fire stations and police facilities that growth requires. Atlanta charges it per home, with the building permit. This page gives the schedule the City adopted in 2021, shows the arithmetic for a duplex, triplex and fourplex, and explains the reduction near MARTA stations, the credit for a building you replace, and the exemption that starts at ten homes. The figures come from the City Code as updated September 24, 2026 and from the study attached to ordinance 21-O-0096.

The 2021 Schedule, per Home

The fee amounts are in a study that the City Code adopts by reference. Section 19-1005 says the "impact fee schedules set forth in the impact fee study are incorporated as a part of this ordinance" and "shall have the full effect of an adopted ordinance of the City of Atlanta." The study is the 2020 Development Impact Fee Study, dated February 23, 2021 and attached to ordinance 21-O-0096 as Updated Exhibit A. Its Table 2 lists these residential fees.

Source: 21-O-0096, Updated Exhibit A (2.24.21), Table 2. The last column is arithmetic by VanPlex: half of the transportation fee plus the other three parts, under Sec. 19-1009(c).

Read the single-family rows with care. The study says its updated fees "include the option of assessing single-family fees with either a flat rate or one that varies by size," and it calls the figures "the maximum fees that can be adopted by the City." VanPlex could not open the City's own posted fee chart to confirm which single-family option is charged, so both are shown and labelled. The multifamily rows have one option each.

This is the latest schedule VanPlex found. A search of City Council legislation for "impact fee," run on October 6, 2026, returned no ordinance after 2021 that adopts a new schedule.

The Arithmetic for a Duplex, Triplex and Fourplex

Section 19-1006 settles which row applies: "Multifamily when used in the impact fee schedules attached hereto means all residential dwelling unit types other than single-family detached dwelling units." A home in a duplex, triplex or fourplex is therefore charged at a multifamily rate. The number of stories decides which row applies.

Arithmetic by VanPlex from Table 2 of the study, for a new building on a lot with no previous use to credit and no MARTA reduction. Rely on the City's certified figure.

A third story changes the rate. A fourplex of three stories falls in the mid-rise row at $2,524 per home, which is $437 less per home than the low-rise row.

Two cases need a question to the City. First, the schedule has no row for an accessory dwelling unit. Second, the director classifies the building by what it is: Section 19-1007(h) says a property's zoning classification "may be considered but shall not be conclusive" for impact fees. Where a proposed use does not match a row, Section 19-1008(e) tells the director to "assign the proposed use to the existing land use type that most closely resembles the proposed use." Ask for a fee certification, described below, if your building is unusual.

Replacing an Existing House

A project that replaces a building pays on the increase only. Section 19-1008(g) says that when a change of use or redevelopment needs a building permit, "the development impact fee shall be based on the difference between the impact fee calculated for the previous use and the impact fee calculated for the proposed use." The previous use is "the most intensive previous use of the site that can be documented by the applicant."

Take one house replaced by a two-story duplex. The new use is 2 x $2,961 = $5,922. The previous use is one single-family dwelling. Under the study's flat option that is $4,914, and $5,922 minus $4,914 leaves $1,008. The result changes if the City applies the tiered single-family option, so treat this as an example of the method.

The rule works in one direction only. If the new use produces a lower fee than the old one, "no refund or credit for past development impact fees paid shall be made or created." Keep records that show what stood on the lot, because the applicant has to document the previous use.

The 50 Percent Transportation Reduction Near MARTA

MARTA is Atlanta's transit agency. Section 19-1009(c) says the transportation impact fee "shall be reduced by 50 percent to reflect increased transit usage and reduced travel demand in the vicinity of MARTA stations." Three conditions apply:

• Distance. The project must be "within 1,000 feet of a MARTA station, measured from property line to property line along a legal and practical pedestrian route." The measure is the walking route.
• Parking at or under the minimum. The applicant must show that the number of parking spaces "does not exceed any required minimum."
• Parking under the maximum. The number of spaces must be "no more than 80 percent of any maximum parking requirement, unless a higher percentage is required to meet the minimum requirement."

Only the transportation part is cut. For a home in a 1 to 2 story multifamily building, $1,752 becomes $876, and the total falls from $2,961 to $2,085. On a two-story fourplex that is 4 x $2,085 = $8,340.

When the Fee Is Set and When It Is Paid

The fee is set and paid with the building permit. Section 19-1008(a) says: "All development impact fees shall be assessed as a part of the building permit application process." Section 19-1007(a) adds that no building permit "shall be valid unless and until the required development impact fee has been paid." At the end of the job, "no certificate of occupancy may be issued until all impact fees are paid in full."

You can get the amount confirmed before you apply. Under Section 19-1008(c), a person who intends to develop "may request a certification of fee from the director by submitting plans for the development." The certified fee "shall be binding upon the parties as to the fee to be assessed for such development for a period of 180 days from the date of certification." A change to the plans that affects the calculation voids it. The director, in this chapter, is the director of the Office of Buildings.

An owner who disagrees with the schedule has two options. Section 19-1012 lets an applicant submit an independent fee study, with its own travel and population figures for the proposed use, in place of the schedule. Section 19-1018 gives a right of administrative appeal to the commissioner of the Department of City Planning, by written request filed within 30 days of receiving the written determination of the fee.

How the 2021 Ordinance Replaced the 1993 Fees

The Council file for 21-O-0096 shows the status "Adopted Substitute as Amended" at the meeting of March 1, 2021. Its text says the earlier ordinance, "adopted by the Atlanta City Council on March 18, 1993, pursuant to 92-O-1817, needs to be updated." A later ordinance, 21-O-0451, records that the Mayor approved 21-O-0096 on March 8, 2021 and that "the amendments to the Impact Fee Ordinance become effective on September 1, 2021."

Source: 2020 Development Impact Fee Study, Tables 1 and 2. Table 1 cites the City of Atlanta Impact Fee Schedule effective March 26, 1993.

The increase was phased in. Section 19-1007(b) set the fee at 50 percent of the schedule "on the date this ordinance becomes effective and for the remainder of the first year thereafter," at 75 percent in the second year, and at 100 percent in "the third and all subsequent years," with the steps taking effect "without further action of the city council."

The dates are worked from the September 1, 2021 effective date and the three steps in Sec. 19-1007(b).

A project permitted today pays the full schedule. Older articles that quote half or three-quarters of these figures describe the first two years.

What the Money Pays For, and the Service Areas

The fee has four parts, and each one pays for one kind of public facility: transportation, parks and recreation, fire and emergency medical services, and police. The City Code limits spending to "system improvements," which it defines as "capital improvements that are public facilities designed to provide service to more than one project or to the community at large." Routine maintenance and operating costs are excluded. Under Section 19-1009(d), transportation fees collected after that subsection took effect "shall only be used for improvements to City-owned arterial and collector roadways."

The Code defines three service areas for transportation and for parks, each by a list of census tracts: the Northside, the Southside and the Westside. Fire and police use one area, "the entire territory included within the corporate limits of the city." The study recommended that the City "adopt uniform city-wide transportation and park fees based on the Northside service area," and its Table 2 lists one rate per land use. Under the 1993 schedule the totals differed between the north and the south and west, as the comparison table shows.

If the City collects a fee and fails to commit it or start construction within six years, Section 19-1015 gives the property owner a refund of 97 percent of the fee on application to the department of finance. The City keeps three percent as an administration fee.

Exemptions: Why a Small Building Does Not Qualify

Section 19-1016 creates two exemptions, each worth 20 percent of the fee and each "subject to available replacement funds from the City." The first is for affordable housing. For rental homes it covers "a development upon which ten or more new residential rental dwelling units will be constructed at one location," with at least 15 percent of the units marketed to households at or under 80 percent of area median income, or at least 10 percent at or under 60 percent. For homes for sale it also starts at ten units, with 20 percent of units at 120 percent of area median income, 15 percent at 100 percent, or 10 percent at 80 percent. The limits must last at least ten years from the certificate of occupancy.

A duplex, triplex or fourplex has fewer than ten homes, so it pays the full schedule whatever rents it charges. The same ten-home threshold appears in Atlanta's inclusionary zoning rules, covered on the BeltLine and inclusionary zoning page. The second exemption is for economic development projects, such as a business that creates at least 50 middle-wage jobs on the southside or westside. It does not apply to a small residential building.

Fees This Page Does Not Cover, and Where to Ask

The City's main website returned an access error to every request during research in October 2026. Three kinds of charges on a new building could not be read and are left out.

• Water and sewer connection charges. Part 19 of the City Code no longer holds them. Its notes say the chapters on water connection fees and wastewater connection fees were repealed by Ord. No. 1995-79, adopted January 3, 1995. Ask the Department of Watershed Management for the charges on a new connection.
• Building permit fees. Ask the Office of Buildings in the Department of City Planning for the fee basis and the current amounts.
• The City's posted impact fee chart. Ask the Office of Buildings which single-family option it charges and for a fee certification on your plans.

Two other payments are covered elsewhere in this guide. The tree ordinance charges $140 per inch for healthy trees removed and not replaced, and zoning applications carry their own fees, starting at $500 for a rezoning. See the trees and stormwater page and the rezoning page.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Atlanta multiplex guide overview, impact fees in California and the missing middle guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)