The Development Review Section and the Urban Design Section of the Durham City-County Planning Department review site plans and plats, and serve as case managers and the central distribution point for plans going to each operational department in the City and/or the County.
Pre-Submittal Meetings
Applicants are encouraged to meet with City and County departments prior to submittal to determine what is required for each project. Pre-submittal conferences are recommended but not required, except for Conservation Subdivisions, pursuant to Section 3.2.2.B of the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Pre-submittal meetings can be scheduled by using the online
Pre-submittal/Re-submittal Conference Request Form.
Types of Site Plans
Approved Administratively
Administrative Site Plans – typically involve requests with no increase in impervious surfaces, no new land disturbance, no new building area, or changes that would require review by any agency or department except Planning.
Small Simplified Site Plans – typically requests involve a maximum of 1,000 square feet of new building area; a maximum of one acre of land disturbance; a maximum of 5 percent increase in parking; minor amendments to an approved site plan; no change in Stormwater Impact Analysis (SIA); no Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA); no modifications to the UDO standards; and no uses that require a special use permit.
Large Simplified Site Plans – typically involve requests with more than 1,000 square feet but less than 25,000 square feet of new building area; more than one acre of land disturbance; or modifications of UDO standards that require planning director or designee approval.
Approved by Development Review Board
Large Simplified Site Plans – typically involve requests with more than 1,000 square feet but less than 25,000 square feet of new building area; more than one acre of land disturbance; or modifications of UDO standards that require planning director or designee approval.
Approved by Development Review Board Minor Site Plans – typically involve requests including more than 25,000 square feet of new building; more than 25 new residential units; require a TIA; request modifications of UDO standards that require Development Review Board approval; or require a minor special use permit.
Approved by Governing Body
Major Site Plans – typically involve requests for modifications of UDO standards which require governing board approval; require a major special use permit (UDO Section 3.9 and 3.8.8); or are located in a Watershed Protection Overlay Critical Area, with impervious surface that exceeds the maximum permitted by the Low Density Option under UDO Section 8.7, Watershed Protection Overlay Standards.
Application Submittal
Developers or their representatives submit site plans and subdivisions, drawn by registered professionals with proficiency in site or subdivision design, to the Planning staff. Submittals, except for administrative site plans and exempt plats, are made by appointment up to one week in advance, but no later than 48 hours in advance. Appointments are available weekly and submittals are batched at the end of the week and distributed to other departments for review.
All supporting information, including the latest appropriate application, applicable departmental checklists, landscape calculations, stormwater impact analyses (and required maps), traffic impact analyses, specimen tree surveys, tree coverage calculations, the correct number of folded plans, and fees, must be included for the submittal to be considered complete. Additional submittals and fees may be required by other City or County departments, including, but not limited to, stormwater, fire marshal, and sedimentation and erosion control as part of the plan approval process. All submittals must be folded to fit in a standard legal folder (maximum 8.5 inches in width by 14 inches in length).
Tracking the Status of ReviewsStatus and comments on submittals may be found in the
Land Development Office (LDO) website, which is searchable. The required login is 0000 and the password is 0000. Once logged in, click on Plans Review and then enter the application number.
Re-submittals
Applicants should thoroughly address any comments and are encouraged to contact the person making the comment if there are questions. Corrected plans, with changes highlighted, and a written response to each of the comments, should be resubmitted to the Planning staff no later than Thursday by 11 a.m. Re-submittals may be made at any time, but will be held until the next distribution cycle if the Thursday deadline is missed.
Re-submittals must also be made within 90 days after the comments are received, or plans will be considered administratively withdrawn. Extensions may be granted due to circumstances beyond the control of the applicant, at the discretion of the Planning Departmental staff. Requests for extensions should be made in writing to planning staff in advance of the re-submittal deadline.
Re-submittals made directly to other departments are not considered valid. Re-submittals must include a detailed response memo describing how and where each review comment was corrected. The Planning staff will then distribute the plans to the commenting departments for a two-week re-review period.
If repeat comments are not addressed, or changes made by the applicants require a re-review beyond the 3rd review, a re-review fee will be charged plus any applicable surcharges. Re-review fees are due at the time of each re-submittal.
Coordination With Other Approvals
Occasionally site plans and subdivisions require additional approvals other than site plan or plat approval. Depending upon the request and/or location of the proposed development, additional applications may also require approval. The following are the most common additional applications, but applicants are encouraged to schedule pre-submittal conferences to determine what, if any, additional approvals would be necessary for a particular proposal:
Plan Approval
Once a plan is determined consistent with all applicable ordinances, it may be approved by staff if it is an Administrative or Simplified Site Plan or Final Plat. Minor Site Plans and Preliminary Plats are approved by the Development Review Board (DRB), which also makes recommendations on Major Site Plans to the appropriate governing body. Major Site Plans require approval by the appropriate governing body (Durham City Council or the Durham County Board of Commissioners). Meetings of the DRB and each governing body are open to the public.