Charlotte, North Carolina - City Development Fees

Fee Summary

Rezoning, Zoning, and Residential Lot Review Fees

Source: City of Charlotte FY 2026 Rezoning and Zoning Text Amendment Application Fees, effective July 1, 2025 (SHA-256 cca1d3da...), and the CLT Development Center FY 2026 Individual Residential Lot Fee Schedule, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 (SHA-256 58446ecc...), both captured verbatim. Rezoning totals combine seven department components: PD&D Entitlement, PD&D Land Development, CATS, Stormwater, CDOT, Fire, and Clerk. Charlotte uses the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) as its development code; the fee schedule is separate from the UDO text.

Rezoning and Zoning Text Amendment Fees (FY26)

Example breakdown - Conventional rezoning ($6,095 total): $1,605 PD&D Entitlement + $340 PD&D Land Dev + $670 CATS + $130 Stormwater + $2,690 CDOT + $290 Fire + $370 Clerk. The Zoning Text Amendment total ($2,980) is $2,610 PD&D Entitlement + $370 Clerk.

Individual Residential Lot (LDIRL) Review Fees (FY26)

Authority: City of Charlotte Planning, Design and Development (PD&D) and the CLT Development Center. Rezoning and text amendment fees are set by City Council each fiscal year. Building trade permit fees (electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and building construction) are issued through Mecklenburg County Building Permitting and are not captured on this page - see Coverage Notes.

Charlotte Water Connection and System Development Fees

Source: Charlotte Water FY26 Rate & Fees Information, effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026 (SHA-256 52a5798e...), captured verbatim. Charlotte Water (CLTWater) is a City of Charlotte enterprise department, not a separate authority. System Development Fees (SDFs) are authorized under NC General Statute 162A Article 8 and are required for every new connection to the water or sewer system, including irrigation and additional services. The connection fee (not the SDF) is discounted 10% when installed during construction of a public main, limited to 5/8-inch water and 4-inch sewer.

Water Connection and System Development Fees by Meter Size

Sewer Connection Fees

Common Residential Connection Examples

Water SDF is based on water meter size. Security deposits are also required for most commercial connections. Verify current amounts with Charlotte Water before relying on them.

Coverage Notes - What This Page Does Not Cover

Per ZoneFee's Partial-Verified Publication Standard, the items below were either not administered by the City of Charlotte or not captured on this page from a hashed official source document. They are disclosed here rather than estimated, paraphrased from a non-official source, or omitted silently. These items remain under limited-coverage review until the coverage gaps are closed from official, hash-captured sources.

Impact fees - not administered

North Carolina municipalities are not authorized to levy classic transportation, school, or parks impact fees. NC courts have held that general impact fees require specific legislative authorization; only the City of Raleigh has been granted transportation impact fee authority, and only Chatham and Orange counties hold school facility fee authority. Charlotte has not been granted general impact fee authority by the NC General Assembly. Charlotte Water's water and sewer System Development Fees (authorized under NC GS 162A Article 8) are captured under Charlotte Water Connection and System Development Fees above. Closed-search outcome: this fee family is not administered by this jurisdiction.

Special district fees - not administered

No developer-facing special district assessment fees levied by the City of Charlotte were found in the FY26 user fee schedules. Charlotte has Municipal Service Districts (Center City and South End), but these are funded by property tax levies on existing properties, not developer-facing application or connection fees. Mecklenburg County Storm Water Services fees are monthly service charges for existing properties, not development impact fees. Stormwater development review fees are already captured under the residential lot review fees above. Closed-search outcome: this fee family is not administered by this jurisdiction.

Proffers - do not apply

North Carolina does not use the Virginia-style conditional-zoning cash proffer mechanism (authorized in Virginia under VA Code 15.2-2303 and 15.2-2303.4). Developer-side capital contributions in North Carolina are handled through subdivision improvement requirements under NC GS 160D and NCGS 160A-372 (infrastructure dedications and fees in lieu for roads and parks, within narrow statutory limits). No proffer schedule exists for Charlotte. Closed-search outcome: this fee family does not apply to this jurisdiction.

Mecklenburg County building trade permit fees

Building trade permit fees (electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and building construction) are issued through Mecklenburg County Building Permitting and are separate from the City's planning and development review fees. They were not captured this pass. The city-only rezoning and development review fee surface is what is confirmed here.

Commercial plan review fee schedule (non-IRL projects)

The FY26 commercial development, subdivision, and land development plan review fee schedule for non-residential and non-IRL projects, published separately by the CLT Development Center, was not captured this pass. It will be added when captured from an official, hash-verified source.

Fee Authorities

Sources