Cabarrus County, NC Building Setbacks & Zoning: Lot Coverage Limits (2026)

Section 5-8 of the Cabarrus County Development Ordinance, which governs dimensional standards for nonresidential development, sets a maximum impervious surface coverage of 75 percent for every nonresidential zoning district in the county: Office/Institutional (OI), Limited Commercial (LC), General Commercial (GC), Limited Industrial (LI) and General Industrial (GI). That 75 percent figure counts all impervious surface on the lot, meaning buildings, parking areas, driveways and any other surface that prevents water infiltration, not just the building footprint. The cap is paired with minimum lot sizes in the same table: 10,000 square feet in OI and LC versus a full acre in GC, LI and GI, so a larger nonresidential lot in an industrial district can carry more total impervious area even though the percentage ceiling is identical.

Section 5-8 sits within Part II of Chapter 5, District Development Standards, which follows Part I's residential subdivision standards; nonresidential applicants must also comply with the Commercial Design Standards in Appendix B for projects in the OI, LC and GC districts, and with Chapter 3's Table of Permitted Uses to confirm a given commercial use is allowed in the district before the coverage limit becomes relevant. Stormwater management tied to impervious surface is addressed separately: Section 5-7 notes that development in unincorporated Cabarrus County is subject to Phase 2 Post-Construction and Soil and Erosion Control permitting through the North Carolina Department of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources, which regulates runoff generated by impervious coverage even where the local 75 percent zoning cap is met.