Do I need a permit for swimming pool or spa in Unincorporated DeKalb County?

Yes. In Georgia, swimming pool or spa generally requires a permit, and Unincorporated DeKalb County is no exception.

In-ground and most permanent pools and spas require a building permit plus electrical inspection in Georgia, along with a code-compliant safety barrier before final approval. Setbacks are measured to the pool and decking, so confirm side and rear yard requirements before excavation. DeKalb County's own permitting office is the DeKalb County Planning and Sustainability, reachable on 404-371-2155 at https://dekalbcountyga.gov/departments/planning-and-sustainability/permits-plan-review-and-inspections. Its online permit portal is https://epermits.dekalbcountyga.gov/. It issues permits for the unincorporated county. If your city does not run its own building department, and many smaller Georgia municipalities do not, this is the office that will handle the job. DeKalb County sits inside the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, created by the Georgia General Assembly in 2001. Every local government in the District, cities included, has to adopt the District's model post-construction stormwater ordinance or an equivalent one at least as effective, so these rules follow you into any city in the county rather than stopping at the unincorporated line. A pool plus its decking adds a meaningful area of impervious surface, and the excavation itself is soil disturbance, so a large pool project is the residential job most likely to attract stormwater or erosion control conditions. In practice the thresholds are aimed at larger development rather than ordinary homeowner work, so most single-family projects sit below them. Cobb County, for example, publishes its trigger as adding more than 5,000 square feet of impervious surface or disturbing more than an acre. Each local government sets its own figures, so check yours before assuming. Where it does apply, the current standard is to retain the first 1.0 inch of rainfall on the site to the maximum extent practicable, which usually means a detention or infiltration feature rather than just grading water to the street. DeKalb requires every pool permit application to include a building permit application, Board of Health approval, and a surveyed site plan, and states that appropriate pool fencing and an electrical permit are also required. Under Zoning Sec. 27-4.2.2(H), pool setbacks are measured from the edge of the decking, and no part of the decking may be within 5 feet of a side or rear property line. Code Sec. 7-30(d)(1)(F) exempts only prefabricated pools less than 24 inches deep installed entirely above ground.