Charlotte Land Development Standards Manual

​​Charlotte Land Development Standards Manual (CLDSM)

The City of Charlotte ensures that new, improved, and modified infrastructure to be used by the public complies with adopted ordinances, meets technical requirements, and is suitable for City maintenance (where applicable). This manual provides standardized information to be used for design, review, approval, and implementation of construction plans. All design details provided in this manual are approved for use within the City of Charlotte and its extraterritorial jurisdiction unless otherwise noted.

The use of the term “standard” means the most common way to design a given feature, not a minimum performance requirement. Non-standard designs may be proposed, subject to the review and approval of appropriate City staff. The developer or designer must provide the supporting details and rationale that the non-standard design meets or exceeds the intent of the standard design(s).

This manual is frequently used as a design reference for the City’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects to facilitate the design process. CIP projects frequently use a combination of standard and non-standard designs, subject to review by City staff, to best meet the needs of the public infrastructure implementation.

Please note:  This manual is periodically updated to ensure that the provided standard construction details satisfy the City’s requirements.  It is the responsibility of the user to make sure the most recent standards are being specified. The current manual is only available via download from this website. Hard copies or CDs are no longer available from the City. 

NEW!  Proposed CLDSM REVISION No. 23 - DRAFT

​The CLDSM Committee has determined that various revisions and new details are necessary and have compiled a PDF of proposed draft text and details.  Please review the DRAFT detail packet below and provide any feedback or comments on the proposed changes by Friday, March 24th via email to brendan.smith@charlottenc.gov.   The revision is proposed to become effective April 1st, 2023. 

Revision 23 - DRAFT revised details.pdf (updated 2/27/2023)



Current Effective CLDS Manual:  July 29th, 2022 (Rev. No. 22)

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 Related Resources

Complete CLDSM for Printing Rev 22.pdfEntire manual combined into one PDF file for printing

Visit this page to download .zip archives containing .dwg (AutoCad) files of all of the CLDSM details.

Questions or need assistance with the CLDSM?  Have suggestions for updates/changes needed to the manual?

Contact: Brendan Smith, Senior PM / Engineering Plan Reviewer, brendan.smith@charlottenc.gov 

City of Charlotte Landscape Managment maintains a separate set of Landscape Construction Standards (2021 Version)