City of Charlotte
Commercial Plan Review
Process
Tom Ferguson, PE
Engineering Program Manager
Land Development Division
Engineering & Property
Management
City of Charlotte
Commercial Site Plan Review Options
1. Regular 15-Day Review
2. Expedited 5-Day Review
• Need approval from CDOT Plan Review Engineer prior to accepting submittal for expedited review
• NCDOT staff do not participate in expedited reviews – if NCDOT approval is needed, you will need to
submit plans for NCDOT review following tentative plan approval by City of Charlotte
• Additional review fees applicable to Expedited Review Service
• No expedited review option for subdivision/multi-family plans
Review periods refer to Business Days. For scheduling purposes, 2 - 3 days should be added to the 15-Day & 5Day Review Processes for administrative tasks (gateway review, plan review assignment, review cycle closure,
uploading of review comments or approved plans). Also note the process does not begin (including Gateway
Review) until plans and calculations are uploaded to Accela Citizen Access and estimated review fees are paid.
Performance Goals for Plan/Plat Review Process
1. Complete 95% of plan review assignments by specified due date
(over past 12 months, City staff is averaging approximately 87% on-time rate)
2. Achieve plan approval within an average of 2.5 review cycles
(over past 12 months, approvals achieved within an average of 1.94 review cycles)
City of Charlotte
Development Services
website
(development.charmeck.org)
All the information
you are likely to need
can be accessed here.
Process Map for the
City’s Commercial
Site Plan Review
Process.
Click on a process
milestone to display
detailed information.
The Friday morning
pre-submittal meetings are
very popular and are
usually fully booked several
weeks in advance.
Pre-submittal meetings are
optional for all projects
except “Urban-Zoned”
projects.
New Option as of 7/1/2015
If you cannot wait for the
next available Friday
morning pre-submittal
meeting slot, an Expedited
Pre-submittal Meeting may
be available for a fee ($500
per the current FY16 Fee
Schedule).
The purpose of the Gateway
Review is to ensure all essential
components of the submittal
are included such that a
comprehensive review can be
conducted.
The Gateway Review is
conducted by the Review
Engineer in the Land
Development Division of City
Engineering.
Most Common Overall Gateway
Review Deficiency:
• Intersection Sight Distance Plan &
Profile for all driveways
Common Stormwater-related
Gateway Review Deficiencies:
• PCCO Summary Table missing
• Detention Summary Worksheet
missing
• Post Construction Stormwater BMP
Design Worksheets missing
• BMP Inset Table for each proposed
BMP missing
See development.charmeck.org
“Resources” page for these items.
Common deficiencies in PCCO SUMMARY TABLE:
BUA density calculation
= (New + Redeveloped BUA) / (Onsite DA - any existing BUA to remain undist.)
** Chapter-2 of the Char-Meck BMP Design Manual contains numerous examples
for calculation of BUA density.
Provide data in separate columns for each onsite drainage area
associated with a site discharge point
(DA#1, DA#2, etc.)
(FYI: PCCO = PCO = PCSO = Post Construction Stormwater Ord.)
For projects involving redevelopment of
existing Built-Upon-Area, it is very helpful
to have a plan which clearly delineates
the proposed BUA and any modifications
to existing BUA.
The detailed site plan
review checklists can
be found here.
Common Stormwater Related Plan Submittal Deficiencies – Detailed Plan Review:
• BMP not sized for off-site drainage area tributary to the BMP
(Must design BMP for entire area draining to pond; designer may bypass off-site drainage around BMP)
• Post-development drainage plan does not adhere to pre-development drainage patterns
(A particularly common issue with infill development.)
• Provide geotech report establishing Seasonally High Water Table (SHWT) for infiltration type BMP’s
(Show proper separation between BMP media and SHWT)
• Provide water balance spreadsheet for BMP, when applicable
• 1-Year volume control “50% volume retainage at 36 hours”
(Charlotte- specific requirement ; also applies to Huntersville per Char-Meck BMP Design Manual)
Accela recently
upgraded Accela Citizen
Access (ACA) to
Version 8.0.
Major changes are
highlighted in the
Announcements section
on the ACA web page.
“ACA Guide” provides
details on the updated
Version 8.0 of ACA.
A link to the “ACA Guide”
can be found here.
Accela Citizen Access Version 8.0 now
provides information on staff
assignments and due dates for review
tasks.
When all review tasks are completed and
review comments/approved plans are
available for download on Accela Citizen
Access, the Licensed Professional and
Owner Representative should be notified
via Accela automated email.
Occasionally, the Accela automated
emails are not received for various
reasons. Sometimes an Accela
malfunction is suspected. Sometimes
there is a typo in the email address
included in the plan submittal application.
If the “Plan Collection Tasks” have been
completed and you have not received an
email notification, please contact the Plan
Review Coordinator.
Prior to plan approval,
review comments are
only accessible by the
Licensed Professional(s)
and Project Owner
Representative.
Upon plan approval, the
approved plans are
available to the public via
Accela Citizen Access.
(Approved calculations
are not, but are available
upon request, as are all
public records.)
Senior Engineers
• The City’s permitting jurisdiction is
divided into 3 - Senior Engineer
Areas.
• To find the Senior Engineer for your
project site go to Virtual Charlotte
(vc.charmeck.org)
Senior Engineer contact
information.
(Urban Forester, Erosion Control
Specialist, and Construction Inspector
information also displayed here.)
Use VirtualCharlotte
to locate approved
commercial site plans.
There may be multiple Accela
projects linked to a single parcel.
Scroll through to find the record of
interest.
Submittals associated with release of the City “HOLD” on the Certificate of Occupancy:
For close-out of a Post Construction Stormwater Ordinance compliant project, there are several submittal requirements not dependent upon completion
of construction. To avoid unnecessary emergencies at the time of intended building occupancy, we recommend the following items be prepared
immediately following site plan approval:
• BMP Operations and Maintenance Agreement
• PCO Plat
• Appendix G1 of PCO Admin Manual is standard format
• Recordation of the Post Construction Controls Easement for access
• Need original owner signature, notarized
and maintenance
• Bring to LD office for Review Engineer to sign/notarize
• Recordation of required Natural Area
• Applicant must take it to Register of Deeds to have it recorded as a
DB / PG#
• Provide DB & PG# back to Review Engineer when recorded
As-built plans are required for all stormwater management facilities (regardless of whether facility was required by Zoning Ordinance, Post Construction
Stormwater Ordinance, etc.)
See As-built Checklists for detailed requirements. (See development.charmeck.org “Resources” for checklists)
Questions?