Forsyth County commissioners weigh extending residential development freeze Tuesday

Homebuilders seeking new residential lots in Forsyth County would stay on hold, and county planners would get more time to finish a rewrite of growth rules, if commissioners extend the residential development freeze at Tuesday’s special-called hearing.

The moratorium, adopted May 15, 2025, applies to residentially zoned properties that were rezoned before April 13, 2017. During the freeze, the county is not accepting applications for sketch plats or land disturbance permits for covered properties. Commissioners already approved a 180-day extension on Dec. 4, 2025, and the county said the correct expiration date is June 2, 2026.

County officials have said the pause is temporary while staff and consultants rewrite the Unified Development Code, design standards and tree ordinance. The county’s own resolution says Forsyth County’s residential population is 280,096 and has grown roughly 60% since 2010. It also cites an Atlanta Regional Commission projection that the county could reach about 450,124 people by 2050 if growth continues along the same path.

The pressure behind the freeze was underscored by the Forsyth County Board of Education’s April 15, 2025 resolution asking the county and the City of Cumming to take affirmative action to reduce high-density residential development. County leaders have tied the debate to school capacity, infrastructure strain and the pace of new housing across north Metro Atlanta, where Forsyth has remained one of the region’s fastest-growing counties.

Commissioners loosened the policy on April 3, 2026, when they allowed rezoning petitions for one-acre residential lots to move forward again, while smaller lots and other zoning categories remained paused. County attorney Ken Jarrard said the freeze has to stay within legal limits. “There’s no such thing as a permanent moratorium. It needs to be temporary, it needs to be reasonable, it needs to be justified.”

The county also has moved to clean up a drafting mistake in the Dec. 4 extension resolution. A clerical error listed April 13, 2027 as the end date, but the county said that would be corrected at the Dec. 9 work session.

Forsyth County’s Board of Commissioners has five members and normally meets on the first and third Thursdays at 5 p.m. in the Forsyth County Administration Building in Cumming. Tuesday’s public hearing will put the freeze, and the county’s next growth-management test, back in front of the board before the June 2 deadline arrives.