Townhouse Project Plan Reviews
Scope of Services
Perform building code plan review on Townhouse Land for Sale projects and are reviewed for zoning/land development ordinances, Charlotte Water regulations, NC State Building and Fire code compliance. We recommend scheduling a preliminary code review with the appropriate agencies if you are new to the design/construction of townhouse projects, or if you have an unusual project design. If you would like to schedule a preliminary code review, please use the Preliminary Review Application Form.
Definitions
- Townhouse: A single-family dwelling unit constructed in a row of attached units separated by property lines and with open space on at least two sides. Townhouses must be designed for compliance with the current edition of the NC Residential Building Codes provided they do not exceed three stories above grade plane.
- Story Above Grade Plane: Any Story having its finished floor surface entirely above grade plane, except that a basement shall be considered as a story above grade plane where the finished surface of the floor above the basement meets any one of the following:
- Is more than 6 feet above grade plane.
- Is more than 6 feet above the finished ground level for more than 50 percent of the total building perimeter.
- Is more than 12 feet above the finished ground level at any point.
Performance Goal
Our goal is to perform plan review on New Townhouse projects within an average of 12 days of the plan acceptance date. These timeframes may vary depending on the volume of submittals and project holds of other agencies.
- Townhouse projects must be submitted through our electronic plan submittal process unless prior arrangements have been approved by the Program Manager.
- Preliminary code reviews are suggested for first time townhouse project developers, or if you have unique project designs. Use the Preliminary Review Application Form to request a preliminary review.
- A project review must have ben submitted and approved by the Planning and Land Development Department for the appropriate jurisdiction. A copy of these approved plans must be included in the project submittal and contain project identifiers and any approval stamps and conditions.
- Obtain a copy of the proposed lot addresses from County GIS. Lot addresses are required to be listed on the site plan included in the project submission. A copy of the preliminary plat that includes each lot address must accompany the project submittal.
- All projects must have a Project Data Sheet incorporated into the plans and a Permit Data Sheet uploaded as a separate file when submitted. If your project has more than one building, and you plan to permit the buildings at different times, please include multiple permit data sheets identifying these different phases.
- Lien agent requirements: Due to townhouses being built on individual properties, lien agents are required for each property address. This information is required on the permit data sheet.
- A current Hydrant Flow Test (within the past 12 months) must be included in the project submittal. Contact Charlotte Fire at 704-336-2101 or County Fire at 980-314-3070, if you need to schedule a hydrant test.
- If your project requires a connection to the Charlotte Water Systems, a backflow Prevention Service Application is required. This form can be found on the Charlotte Water Backflow Construction Web Page.
- Electronic site plans must be formatted in PDF, drawn to scale, and set up on a minimum sheet size of 24" X 36".
- Electronic building plans must be drawn to scale and set up on a minimum size of 11" X 17".
- The maximum file size is 40MB, therefore you may need to separate the site plans from the building plans. Electrical, mechanical, and plumbing plans are not reviewed as part of the building and should not be included in the building project submittal.
- Amenity buildings and structures, common to the residential development, must be submitted as a separate project through the commercial OnSchedule plan submittal process.
- This Process Flowchart of the Townhouse Plan Review Submittal Process may be helpful to outline the workflow.
- Projects reviewed three or more cycles in the building discipline will incur an hourly review fee of $145.00.
Prior to Project Submittal the above requirements must be fulfilled.
Log into your Mecklenburg County Code Enforcement Account and select Permit Application.
Complete a building permit application using one of the townhouse addresses within the project. If you plan to permit the project in phases, use an address that is part of the first phase.
Select the Property Use as "Residential - Townhouse" The Type of Work as "New", then check the boxes that identify the specifics of the unit, SF Dwelling Attached (Townhouse), deck, attached or detached garage, etc.
Select the "TH-LFS Plan Review" plan review option #1 from the Townhouse Plan Option section of the on line application. NOTE: Only one electronic permit application is required to submit your TH-LFS project for plan review (using one of the addresses within the project scope). Upload the "TH-LFS Permit Data Sheet" to list all the multiple units and/or buildings that are ready to permit with this plan review. Once the project is approved, Code Enforcement will create and issue the addition permits listed on the "TH-LFS Permit Data Sheet.
Enter a small description of the project in the "Expanded Scope of Work" section of the permit application. Example: Townhome project consisting of 5 buildings and a total of 30 units.
Complete the "Application" section of the application. Be sure to identify the Project Designer and their e-mail address to ensure they are copied with all communications regarding the project. Enter a lien agent in the "Lien Agent" section. Since you use and address within the development, you will enter the same lien agent and lien agent number for this specific street address on the Permit Data Sheet.
Once you have completed the "Lien Agent" section, click on the Submit button (only once).
This permit application submittal will set up a dummy permit, to enable you to attach the project plans. The system will send you a confirmation notification providing a link to attach the project plans. You may need to break up the project plans into multiple files to avoid exceeding the 40MB file size limit. The civil & site plans may be a separate file from the architectural plans file. once you have completed uploading all files pertinent to the project, click the "Release for Review" button.
Once you project submittal is complete, our project controllers will check the plans for compliance with our project submittal guidelines (This is not a code review). If the project meets the guidelines the plans will be accepted into the plan review process. If the project submittal has insufficient content, the project controller will trigger the system to send an e-mail requesting additional information including a brief description of the information needed. This e-mail will also contain a link for plan re-submittal.
Once the project plans have been accepted into the plan review process, the project coordinator will complete the project set up establishing plan review tasks for the required agencies and building disciplines. You will be able to track the plan review progress using your contractor dashboard and searching by the project number. The "Stat Map" for you project will identify each reviewer and agency that will perform reviews along with the review status of each. The Building, Zoning, Fire, and Charlotte Water reviews must be completed before a disapproved review cycle may be returned for corrections. All review units, including the ones just listed, must be approved before the project can be closed.
If any of the Building, Zoning, Fire, and Charlotte Water reviews are disapproved, the project coordinator will upload the disapproved plans into the system and a system generated e-mail will be sent that contains a link to upload the revised plans and view the disapproved plans. The disapproved plans are also available from your contractor account under the project number. NOTE: The building, Zoning, Fire, and Charlotte Water reviews move through the plan review process together. The other agencies move through the process individually and independently from each other.
Permits will be issued after the project has been approved and closed, based on the information provided in the Permit Data Sheet. Permitting may take several days pending on the number of units and the accuracy of the information provided on the data sheets. Therefore, please inform the Project Coordinator if you have a specific building(s) with a priority.
Any portion of an approved project that has not been permitted will expire an the implementation of each new NC State Building Code. Therefore, any units within previously approved townhouse projects that have not been permitted must be submitted for approval with the new code. The following is a list of those requirements.
- The project will be considered as a new project and follow the same submittal process.
- Update plans to the new version of the NC Residential Building Code.
- Remove all references to the out dated code on the Project Data Sheet (a.k.a. Building Code Summary). Replace with current code information.
- If the site plans are not altered the you may submit the previously approved site plan package.
- Permitting is resumed under the new code once the updated project is approved.
Helpful Information
Key Contacts:
Plan Review Facilitator: 980-314-2633, option 2-1-1-2.
Plan Review Team Members: Patrick Biddy, Tomarris Jones, Fiona Yang