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.
Current Effective CLDS Manual: January 31st, 2024 (Rev. No. 24)
Below is the current effective Charlotte Land Development Standards Manual by section and chapter. For a PDF copy of the complete manual, see the "Related Resources" section to the right side of this page.
For a copy of the previous version of the CLDSM (Rev No. 22), see "Associated Links and Useful References" to the right side of this page.
Current Effective CLDSM Chapters
Detail Drawings