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Good afternoon and welcome to the accessory dwelling unit webinar. We are re-recording this webinar as we recorded
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it back in May and there were some technical difficulties that prevented us from capturing that webinar. So, we're
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going to re-record it today and we're happy that you're you're viewing this here. My name is Andrew Alsel. I'm a planning project coordinator for the
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city of Charlotte. Hello everyone. My name is Faith Zisk. I am also a planning project coordinator
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with the city of Charlotte. and we are so happy to have you here today. Uh we wanted to note at the very top that
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while we'll try and be as comprehensive as possible, the zoning information that's provided in this webinar is using
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the most current version of the unified development ordinance or UDO. The
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guidance may not include all the requirements from other city and county departments or cover all of the UDO
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requirements and processes that your property may be subject to. So with that we will get started with our
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presentation. The agenda for our session today will include a quick uh summary of
1:05
the Queen City ADU loan program uh that was a matching grant to help fund the
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cost of construction for ADUs in Charlotte. We'll get into some of the parameters around what is an ADU uh
1:16
where are they allowed and are there any technical ADU requirements that you need to be aware of as you come in for
1:23
permitting. And it will also get into the permitting process overview. Uh and
1:29
then talk a bit about conversions of existing accessory structures if you have a garage or a shed in your
1:37
backyard. We'll talk about sort of some of the more uh nuances that you may need to go through if you're converting that
1:44
space into an ADU. We'll also talk about attached ADU. So, if you're adding an ADU to your existing home and
1:51
breezeways, um a very technical and and uh niche element of this that we
1:58
absolutely think we need to cover. Uh we'll also finish the presentation with some city provided resources to help you
2:04
build your ADU.
2:10
So, some overview statistics of the Queen City ADU loan program. The program
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was launched in September of 2025. Applications closed October 31st of
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2025. So, the city is no longer accepting any new applications for this specific Queen
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City ADU loan program. The city received a total of 297 applications
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and has 21 active participants. There are three ADUs as part of that program
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that are pending completion. So what is an ADU? An accessory dwelling
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unit. The lawn definition as outlined in the unified development ordinance otherwise
3:01
known as the UDO is as follows. A dwelling accessory unit
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is an additional dwelling unit associated with and incidental to a principal dwelling.
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An accessory dwelling unit shall include separate cooking and sanitary facilities and is a complete separate dwelling
3:23
unit. ADUs are not permitted in manufactured homes, recreational
3:28
vehicles, travel trailers, campers, or any other type of motor vehicle. So,
3:36
the short definition, it's a small accessory residential living unit that functions independently from the main
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home. As a note, the UDO is a document that outlines all of the zoning and land
3:50
use as well as storm water and tree requirements for the city of Charlotte.
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So, where are ADUs allowed? They're allowed for most neighborhood
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lots with N1 and N2 zoning. Some additional research may be required
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for commercial mixeduse or conditional zoning. Some of those zoning districts
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include CG, OFC, NC, TODNC,
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and any sort of legacy conditional zoning districts. and any of these zoning districts listed here in this
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green box. As a note, you will need to consider any HOA rules or other
4:35
restrictive neighborhood covenants. The city does not enforce those private agreements. So, it is up to the private
4:42
property owner to know and understand what those restrictions are.
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This is our first screenshot opportunity. Um the if you'd like to
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take a quick screenshot of this slide, it outlines all of the ADU udo
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requirements as currently listed in the UDO. We're going to go through these standards. Um so if if you'd like to
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take a screenshot, please go ahead. Um just know that these slides will also be available after this presentation.
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ADU in the UDO requirements for ADUs are outlined in article 15 and 17. So for
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ADUs that are 24 feet or shorter, so less than 24 feet in height, the rear
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setback is required to be three feet and the side setback is required to be also
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three feet. Uh if you have a if you're on a corner lot, you will have something
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called a corner side setback. In the N1A and B zoning district, that setback is
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13 and 1/2 ft. In the NC, N1E, and N1F
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zoning districts, that corner side setback is 10 ft. If this condition
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applies to you, you and you're if you're on a corner lot, ADUs are never allowed
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in that corner side setback. When the ADU is 24 feet or taller, the rear
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setback is 15 feet and the side setback is 5T. The same corner side setbacks as
6:26
above apply. Again, an ADU can never be located in a corner side setback.
6:34
talking about size allowances. So, an ADU, no matter the size of your home or
6:39
lot, an ADU size is not based off of the size of your lot. It's based off the size of the principal structure. So, no
6:46
matter the size of your principal structure, you are allowed to have a 600 heated square foot ADU.
6:53
It can o or 70% of the total floor area of that main house, whichever is
7:00
greater. It can never an ADU can never no matter the size of your main structure or lot
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can never be greater than a thousand heated square feet.
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An ADU is required to be separated from your main structure by 5T.
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Some other things to consider. You'll notice that there aren't any front setback requirements. That's because
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generally ADUs are not allowed in front setbacks, required or established. And
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that established front setback is the area between the front of your home and
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your front property line. There are some exceptions to that. If you h if you think that your property does have um an
7:43
exception, um we'll get into some resources you'll be able to access to ask questions of the ADU customer uh
7:50
support team later on the presentation. Continuing on to some additional requirements, ADUs must be accessory to
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single family or duplex uh dwellings when individual duplex dwellings are not
8:04
on subw lots. An ADU again cannot be located in a manufactured dwelling or
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any type of motor vehicle. Only one ADU is allowed per lot. The ADU and the main
8:15
home must be under the same ownership. And an ADU cannot be served by a
8:20
driveway separate from the main home. Again, there's some exceptions to that. However, um at the end of the
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presentation, we'll provide you some guidance as to where you can reach out to if you think that maybe your lot um
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has a driveway is allowed some sort of ADU driveway exception.
8:39
Um slide.
8:44
So, ADU requirements in action. This is what a neighborhood could look like if
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some of your neighbors, two of your neighbors developed an ADU. Um,
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here in the rear setback, you'll see a smaller ADU set back from their property
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lines. In that three-dimensional view, this is what that would look like. You'll notice it's behind the main home.
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It's closer to the fence. Similarly with that second ADU here on your neighboring
9:17
lot, maybe it's a little bit bigger. It's still set back from the property line, still behind that main home. And
9:25
again, what it could look like in that 3D view.
9:30
All right, so onto the permitting process. As you start to think through the permitting process, it's important to
9:37
keep in mind there are several or there are at least two different types of permits that you're going to have to
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apply for as you as you come in to permit your ADU. The first is the city
9:47
process and you'll see it here on the the diagram as the items in green. You'll submit it through the city of
9:53
system and it routes that application to our land development team. Uh there will be a three-day gateway review
10:00
verification uh that will be for the plan reviewers to take a look at the
10:06
plan and make sure that you have all of the permitting requirements on the checklist uh and it's a complete
10:11
application. We'll talk a little bit about what a gateway uh checklist looks like in a minute, but that three-day
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review cycle is just that first step to getting a city uh permit through our
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system. At that point, you'd pay your fee and you would come in for uh or the
10:29
the application would be sent back to us for a 7-day detailed review. And so, at
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that point, the city would look at does this meet the actual standards? Is this
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compliant with the setbacks that we're requiring? Is this meeting the floor
10:45
area limitations for ADUs? Those are the things that we're going to look for in that detailed review process that maybe
10:50
we didn't look for in the gateway uh review process. Um at the end of that,
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you will get your land development individual residential lot permit concurrently or after you've secured
11:05
your LDIRL approval. Uh the county is also going to review your application
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which is submitted as a separate application through the county system.
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the uh city is going to check as that comes through the county system whether
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it it aligns with what was approved in the LDR approval. So, you're going to want to make sure as you're coming
11:28
through for a permit that the details in your county application for a building
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permit uh that's based on the state building code matches the information
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that is uh included in your uh city LDIRL approval. And at the end of that
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process of getting your county permit, you'll get your building permit, which comes with a certificate of occupancy
11:50
and is subject to a final inspection by the county. Um,
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as we talk about this gateway and what are you required to submit in your permit application, we have an example
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here of an complete site plan. Um, the site plan is probably the most detailed piece of information that you're going
12:07
to have to provide to the city, and we wanted to show you a good example of what that looks like. Uh right off the
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bat, your site plan is going to need to show the property lines, all four property lines. Uh going to have to
12:19
include the street names and a scale to confirm measurements. Um this seems like
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very simple information, but it's very important to check for these small details because each bit of this information is important to confirm the
12:31
setbacks and to confirm that it it is a scaled drawing that we can measure and verify compliance with. Uh secondly,
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once you have those sort of basic uh bits of information on the site plan, you're going to want to make sure that
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the location and the dimension of all setbacks is noted here. You'll see the lines that I've kind of highlighted
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here. These are going to be your principal structure setbacks. It's important for us to see that uh so that
12:58
we understand uh which one which setbacks apply um and what your zoning
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district is. That's going to be a good indicator to us as planer viewers on what we're looking at. And then you're
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going to have to on your site plan indicate the location of the accessory dwelling unit, the total floor area of
13:15
the accessory dwelling unit, the location of the main house, and the total floor area of the main house. We
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need to see all these details because our regulations are tied to the size of the principal dwelling. And so we like
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to see on the site plan the location of that main building, the relationship between the two buildings, and then the
13:33
total floor area of each. So we can really get into the requirement to make sure that it's a compliant structure and
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there's no required back and forth through the permit review process.
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Finally, driveway location. This is probably one of the more uh minor details that you're not necessarily
13:51
thinking through, but it's important to show the location of all driveways on the lot. Whether that's an existing
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driveway or a new driveway, we need to see all the driveways. If we see something on the aerial aerial view of a
14:03
property and it's not shown on the plan, that's likely going to result in a comment back to you asking you that you
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include all the location of the driveways on the plan. As you'll note, uh, we didn't talk about any parking
14:14
requirements in Faith's slide about the requirements. ADUs don't require any parking spaces. However, you are more
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than welcome to provide a parking space and a driveway for the ADU. Um, however,
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if the ADU is on an interior lot, it's not on a corner lot, there's no alley access in the back, the ADU has to be
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served by the same driveway as the principal structure. So, that's just something to keep in mind as you're
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thinking through your site plan. Lastly, trees. Uh trees are another big component that uh some people know
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about. It's important to understand that uh certain trees are protected trees. We'll talk a little bit about what those
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are in upcoming slides, but essentially you're going to want to show the location of all trees on a site. And
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note the diameter of breast heights. You're going to have to pro provide some of that information because depending on
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how big the tree is, depending on the species of the tree, it may be a protected tree that's going to require some either protection or mitigation if
15:09
you're removing that tree. Another screenshot opportunity for you
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here. Uh this is your full list of permitting materials that you will be
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required to submit uh as a part of a city land development individual residential lot permit. First and
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foremost, you're going to have to provide a new address uh approval from Meckllinmberg County. That should be the
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the form that is emailed to you and it has the signature from the county signifying that this address has been
15:41
approved. Um the second element is that you're going to include your accessory
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structure or ADU declaration form. This is just a form that we have in the city of Charlotte to clear up and make sure
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that it's expressly stated whether your structure that you're building is an ADU or it's an accessory structure that's
15:59
subject to some different rules uh and some and some different conditions. So
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that is the second element of our permitting checklist. Third, you also
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want to be make sure you include a building elevation plan. This picture that we've included here is a great
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example of a building elevation plan. It measures the uh height from the average
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grade of the structure. It goes to the top of the roof ridge and it shows exactly what we're permitting so that we
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can confirm the setbacks for the structure. And then your professionally prepared site plan includes all of the
16:33
things that we just talked about. Uh but that is going to be one of the more important pieces of information that
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you're going to want to cross-check with your contractor as you're working through the process. You are now an expert. You now have the details of what
16:45
needs to be included in your site plan. So, make sure that you're checking and confirming that all the information is included so that we can get through a a
16:52
timely permit review um and not have to drag drag it through comments and revisions.
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Some other things to be aware of [sighs] the city permitting timeline. This is a great question we often get. How long is it going to take for me to get my
17:04
permit? In general, we in generally we recommend that you bake in about a one
17:10
to three months uh for your permitting timeline approval. And that that should
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include both your city and your county permit from you know, hey, I have this idea. I want to get it permitted to you
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can go and start to build. Expect about 1 to three months. However, this absolutely can go quicker if you have a
17:27
complete application and a compliance site plan in your initial LDIL permit
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submitt. Secondly, the fees. As I said, the fees
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are not paid until after the uh the gateway review is complete. Um and fees
17:45
are set each year by city council. And so as this uh these figures somewhat
17:52
change, for reference, the current fee is about $655 for your city permits through June 30th.
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Uh fees will increase. This is just kind of for your knowledge. Fees will increase if you have code protected
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trees. uh which we will talk about next. Code protected trees could include a
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number of different trees and so you'll absolutely want to reach out if you have questions about a tree on your lot and
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be sure that you communicate early if there's any concern or questions about what you need to do. Heritage trees are
18:25
the big ones. Those can be trees anywhere on your lot and they are 30 inches in diameter at breast height or
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more. Uh and they are native species to North Carolina. So, if for some reason you have a Bradford pear in your
18:37
backyard and it's 40 inches in diameter, if that's even possible, uh that would not be a protected heritage tree because
18:43
it's an invasive species and it's not a native tree to North Carolina. But if you have a 30-inch willow oak in your
18:49
backyard, you're going to absolutely want to check and note that that is a heritage tree and it's protected by the
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city of Charlotte UDIO. Street trees are the other element. These are trees that are located in the front of your structure or the side if you're on a
19:02
corner lot, but they're going to be trees that are within the street right ofway, either between the sidewalk and
19:07
the back of curb in that planting strip area or just trees that are within a set distance of the back of curb.
19:15
Absolutely. As always, reach out to city staff and confirm uh before you're going through your feasibility and check if
19:21
you have any protected trees on your lot. Utilities are a big one. People always ask us, "What do you require me
19:27
to do for utilities?" We don't maintain any requirements in the city of Charlotte UDO for utility connections.
19:33
And so we recommend that you reach out to Duke Energy to Charlotte Water and Stormwater Services if you have
19:39
questions as well as solid waste if you have questions about how you're going to incorporate the servicing of these
19:44
utilities in your ADU. All right, moving on to what if you want
19:51
to build an ADU, but you don't want to build a new detached structure. We've talked a lot so far about detached
19:57
structures and building in the the back your backyard, but it may does happen
20:02
sometimes that your lot is just kind of too tight and it doesn't include enough space or you want to do something that's a little bit different uh maybe for an
20:09
in-law that you wanted to have some attachment. You can absolutely build an addition to your structure that is used
20:15
as an accessory dwelling unit. Um, this is something that's allowed by our
20:21
code, but there's a couple things that you want to keep in mind. First, there's no formal definition of an attached ADU
20:26
in our current ordinance ordinance language. So, don't worry about trying to find where this is in the code. Other
20:33
cities may call this an attached ADU, but in Charlotte, you would apply for this sort of permit as an addition
20:39
project type, not an ADU in City of Asella. This can be done either as an
20:44
alteration of an existing space within your home like a basement uh or an attic or as an addition. Additions are going
20:51
to require city and county approvals to make sure that it meets the UDO and the
20:56
building code. and your alterations may be able to be permitted just through the
21:01
county if you aren't altering the footprint of your main home. The main point here is that um ADUs that are
21:08
attached to the main home must comply with all the standards for the principal structure such as larger setbacks and
21:14
general building coverage limitations. If you're proposing this as an addition or an alteration to an existing
21:20
structure, uh there's a fine line between an attached ADU and a duplex. to that that you're going to want to
21:27
maintain. And that fine line is really just defined as a an interior access
21:32
point between the two structures. Um so you must include a door through which you can pass without going outside of
21:39
the main structure. If you have that that that door, that is going to be the main difference between uh an attached
21:46
ADU and a duplex. duplex is not going to have that internal access and that's going to be a separate permitting
21:51
process and there's some additional requirements that may apply, but an attached ADU has a door between the two units. You can absolutely incorporate a
21:58
two-way lock to, you know, u encourage privacy and and make it work for tenants in in your ADU structure, but that's the
22:05
main difference between a duplex and an attached ADU that you're going to want to keep in mind.
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[sighs] So, conversions of existing accessory structures. So, say you have a garage and you want to convert it to an ADU.
22:17
That is totally allowed as well. But before you get too far into design to convert an existing garage or shed into
22:24
an ADU, it's important to check whether the structure meets all the applicable rules. Uh garages can have some history.
22:31
Sometimes they've been around a long time. Sometimes they don't have a permit pulled. Uh if it was built before 1992,
22:38
it may not comply with the required side and rear setbacks as these have changed over time. Uh these instances are called
22:45
legal nonconformities and are important to know about if you're going about an a conversion of an existing accessory
22:52
structure. If you have a legally non-conforming garage that you want to change to an ADU, you can do that as
22:58
long as the ADU doesn't make the structure more non-conforming. Any additions or alterations need to comply
23:05
with the code and the ADU cannot be located within the area of the structure that is non-conforming. In particular,
23:12
it's important to pay attention to the rules for building height and setbacks as you work through this.
23:19
Breezeways. The last and maybe most complicated part of this presentation will be on
23:25
breezeways. Um, breezeways are architectural features of the principal
23:30
dwelling that can be located in the side or the rear of the principal structure. If they're no more no wider than eight
23:37
feet, uh they may be uh and no taller than 12 feet, they are allowed between
23:42
the principal and the detached accessory structure without creating what we call an attachment. If the breezeway exceeds
23:49
these standards, say it's 9 ft wide, the principal dwelling and the accessory
23:54
structure are considered attached by this architectural feature. Um, a good
24:01
example of maybe why you want to attach a structure to the main home via a breezeway might be that you want to build more floor area than the code
24:08
allows in your, you know, otherwise detached accessory structure. You generally see this being used in
24:14
instances where people have larger lots and the required rear setback for the principal dwelling is generous enough to
24:20
allow for this type of attachment. generally not going to work on smaller lots, but this is something to keep in
24:25
mind. If you have a bigger lot and you want to attach the main structure or you want to provide sort of, you know,
24:31
weatherproof access between the two structures, um, you're going and you want it to be detached. Make sure that
24:37
it's less 8 feet wide or less.
24:42
Back to you. We have given you a ton of information
24:48
during this webinar. You're probably asking yourself, where do you start?
24:54
You'll want to start with the My ADU eligibility tool. This tool is a great
25:00
tool to determine preliminary feasibility of whether or not it's
25:07
feasible to build an ADU on your lot. This tool by no means offers approval of
25:13
building an ADU. And in that same vein, it also does not mean that you can't
25:20
build an ADU if it says it's infeasible to build a lot an ADU on your lot. And
25:26
we'll get into on the next slide um the two results that you will receive. But first, um when you are using this tool,
25:34
it's again a feasibility preliminary tool. If you have any questions after
25:40
receiving um your result of this tool, you will be able to reach out and ask those
25:46
questions. Um so we are here as a resource uh and we want you to use this
25:51
tool, but again it's a preliminary tool. So two outcomes of using this eligibility
25:59
tool, feasibility likely and feasibility not likely.
26:04
A feasibility likely result again does not guarantee ADU approval, but it's a
26:11
good indicator that an ADU is possible in your lot. You will have two optional
26:17
next steps. One, start gathering the permitting materials that Andrew had
26:22
outlined in his previous in the previous slides. Or if you have additional
26:27
questions about where to start, what your next step is, or anything other site conditions that you want to
26:33
discuss, you can schedule and reach out to the ADU customer support team for more information.
26:41
The second um result that you will get as noted is the feasibility not likely
26:47
result. But if you receive that result, it does not mean an ADU is not possible
26:53
on your lot. So, your next step is to reach out to the ADU customer support team to request add additional
27:00
information about building an ADU on your lot.
27:06
We are super excited to announce that the ADU design and development plans
27:14
library is live on the city's ADU website.
27:19
These plans offer an opportunity for reducing timelines and uh cost when it
27:27
comes to developing a an ADU on your property. There are several design
27:33
options that that come with these with this plans library. Uh there are between
27:38
one and two bedrooms, between 492 to 659 heated square feet, and there is one
27:45
option that is ADA compliant. On the web on the city's ADU website,
27:52
there are there's information for how to request the plans. First, you'll want to
27:58
determine the feasibility of an ADU using that ADU using the my ADU
28:03
eligibility tool. Then, you'll want to understand the UDO ADU standards and
28:09
permitting requirements as outlined during this webinar. Next on the website there there is a PDF
28:18
where you can actually review the design plans. It includes renderings and floor plans. And you can see an example of
28:24
that here on this slide of what that looks like. Once you determine what ADU you would like to use, you will complete
28:31
and submit the city of Charlotte ADU design and development plans request
28:36
form. That form will come to the ADU customer support team. We will review
28:42
for completeness and accuracy and once that review is done we will send you
28:47
construction plans that have that are unstamped construction plans. So the un these plans that are sent to you by the
28:53
city will not be you able to be used for construction. They are they can be used
29:00
to take to designers or general contractors to determine the cost of
29:07
what it will be to build that selected ADU. The city does not have a list of general
29:15
contractors available. It is on the private property homeowner, the homeowner who who's wanted to build the
29:20
ADU to determine which general contractor designer they would like to use.
29:27
Permitting remains the same if you use these plans with the city of Charlotte. So that LDIRL permit process does not
29:34
change with Meckberg County. With the Mechmberg County building permit, there is an
29:40
expedited review. These plans have been pre-approved by Mechmberg County. However, you will still need a building
29:47
permit, and that building permit um will go through that that uh Mechmberg County
29:53
building permit process.
29:58
If you are interested in receiving updates about future programming, so
30:04
plans, resources, and opportunities, you are able to sign up for an interest form
30:10
on the city's ADU website. We highly encourage you to do this. You can learn about future webinars um such as this
30:17
one and um any other future programming for ADUs.
30:24
We've outlined here some resources that we discussed during this webinar. So,
30:30
the interest form, um, some information on how to reach the ADU customer support
30:35
team, the ADU website, the eligibility tool, and the design plan request form.
30:42
some additional links um to the UDO our res the city's residential permitting
30:48
website, the ADU declaration form, the Meckham County address assignment
30:54
form, the county's permitting website, the city's urban forestry website, and
31:01
Meckberg County's Polaris. With that, thank you so much for joining
31:08
us and for listening to this webinar. Uh you are able to reach us at my
31:14
adusharlottnc.gov. We respond to emails within two to three
31:19
business days. Again, my name is Faith Zisk and I'm a planning project coordinator here in the city of
31:26
Charlotte and Andrew Wel, planning project coordinator as well. We are so thankful you joined us for this webinar and
31:32
please reach out as you have questions and follow up as needed. Thanks.