The city’s five local historic districts are Parkwood, Old Decatur, Ponce de Leon Court, the Clairemont Avenue Corridor and McDonough-Adams-King’s Highway. Under Decatur’s preservation ordinance, ordinary repair that fixes damage without changing design, material or outward appearance doesn’t need the Historic Preservation Commission to grant a Certificate of Appropriateness. It needs a Certificate of Exemption, which city staff can approve. That costs $10, and the city rules on it within five business days.
For Old Decatur, the district’s design guidelines add that historic gutters and downspouts “should be maintained or replaced with visually similar materials appropriate to the style and period of the house.”
Building permits are a separate matter. Inside the city, you need a permit for any roofing job, for anything done in a local historic district, and for repairs and maintenance worth $1,000 or more. Under the city’s development code, minor repairs below $1,000 outside the historic districts can go ahead without a permit, with the building official’s approval.
Neither the ordinance nor the permit rules mention gutters by name. Before work starts, confirm what your job needs with the city’s permit office, Design, Environment and Construction, at 404-377-6198 or PermitTech@decaturga.com. All of this applies only inside the city limits. If your Decatur address falls in unincorporated DeKalb County, the county handles permits; its permit office is at 404-371-2155, option 3.