Georgia Service Delivery Strategy Act (HB 489) — Intergovernmental Coordination Mandate (GA)

Tracked preemption from the Georgia overlay bundle.

Overview

Effective
1997-07-01
Sunset
Authority
state
Scope
state:GA

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

always true

Preempted fields

3 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
intergovernmental_coordination.requires_compliant_service_delivery_strategyoverrideTrueEvery county and the municipalities within must jointly adopt and maintain a Service Delivery Strategy describing how each local service is provided, by which government, and how funded — DCA verifies compliance
intergovernmental_coordination.requires_land_use_dispute_resolutionoverrideTrue§36-70-24 mandates resolution of land-use classification conflicts between overlapping jurisdictions (city vs. county zoning in unincorporated/incorporated transition areas) as part of the SDS — annexation-driven zoning disputes flow into the SDS dispute-resolution track
review_outcomes.sanctions_for_non_complianceadd['loss_of_qualified_local_government_status', 'ineligibility_for_state_administered_grants', 'ineligibility_for_state_administered_loans', 'ineligibility_for_state_permits_and_licenses', 'ineligibility_for_state_revenue_sharing_in_some_categories']§36-70-27: DCA-certified non-compliance triggers ineligibility for state grants/loans/permits and revenue-sharing distributions — the canonical 'no state money without an SDS' sanction

Citation

Authority source
O.C.G.A. §§36-70-20 through 36-70-28 (Service Delivery Strategy Act, HB 489 of 1997); DCA Rules Chapter 110-3-3 (Standards and Procedures for Service Delivery Strategy)
§ §§36-70-20 et seq.; §36-70-24 (land-use dispute resolution); §36-70-27 (sanctions)
https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/110-3-3

Research notes

Universal applicability — every GA county and its municipalities must jointly adopt and periodically update an SDS. The SDS itself does not preempt substantive local zoning content, but it (1) mandates intergovernmental coordination on service provision and overlapping land use, (2) provides the statutory hook for resolving city/county zoning conflicts in transition areas around annexations, and (3) carries the most economically significant penalty in GA local-government law: loss of state grants, loans, permits, and revenue-sharing eligibility. SDS works in tandem with the Comprehensive Planning Act (§50-8-7.1) — both are required for and define Qualified Local Government (QLG) status. SDS must be re-verified by DCA on a defined cycle (typically tied to plan updates every 10 years, with interim updates on triggering events like annexations or service-area changes).