Villages near the parkway, rural lots on septic: inside the adopted growth plan

Chattahoochee Hills’ adopted 2026 Comprehensive Plan draws a practical distinction behind its rural vision: village growth is focused near South Fulton Parkway, while its agricultural and rural residential development model calls for septic or individual systems.⁠[1]

The draft action minutes reviewed for this account date the unanimous Council approval to October 6; the plan itself is labeled adopted October 2026. Our earlier approval report had left the meeting date and final wording unresolved.⁠[1][2]

The plan says concentrating villages near the state-maintained parkway can reduce the city’s infrastructure and road-maintenance burdens. But the Preferred Village Area designation is not a promise that any or all of that land will become a village; it primarily limits village development outside the area.⁠[1]

For agricultural and rural residential development, the plan explicitly connects septic use and sewer restrictions to maintaining rural character and separation between houses. Hamlets have a different model: the plan says they will probably need central water, while sewage can be managed through the city, a community or privately.⁠[1]

That makes continued utility coordination part of the growth strategy. The plan identifies Atlanta and Fulton County as water-and-sewer partners for targeted village and hamlet development. Its accomplishments report says discussions with Atlanta Watershed Management and Fulton County DPW will continue to refine infrastructure planning and management.⁠[1]

A separate earlier infrastructure-engagement task is marked canceled, with the explanation that it will be reconsidered as needed. That entry should not be read as an end to all utility coordination: the same report lists broader utility-policy work as ongoing.⁠[1]

The work program places utility-policy research and development-code updates in 2028 and 2029, with staff time listed as the estimated cost—not a sewer-construction budget. The distinction matters when reading the growth plan: it guides future development regulations and zoning decisions, rather than itself constituting zoning regulations.⁠[1]