For a Raleigh Administrative Site Review (ASR), Recorded Map/Plat (RCMP), or Subdivision (SUB) plan from before 2020, find the case first, then ask the City’s Planning and Development Records Unit for the plan documents. Raleigh’s Permit Portal Records Guide says plan sets in these three categories are viewable in the portal from 2020 onward. That is an online plan-viewing boundary, not a statement that earlier cases or paper plans never existed.
Build a case reference before requesting a plan
Start with Raleigh’s Development Approvals page, which identifies ASR, Recorded Maps/Plats and Subdivision as separate case families. It says new cases in those families have been available in the Permit and Development Portal since January 1, 2025, searchable by case number, name or address. Cases that began earlier remain in the page’s year tables, while the City asks readers to check the portal for updates. A case number is the useful bridge between an older table entry and a document request.
If the older project is in a year table, copy its case number, project name and location. Choose the case family deliberately: a recorded plat is not interchangeable with the ASR site plan or a subdivision plan. If you only know an address, use the Development Approvals route to identify the most plausible case, then verify the project name and location before asking for a plan. Our permit lookup by address guide helps keep multiple addresses and project names straight.
What Raleigh’s year tables actually give you
The Development Approvals page (updated September 15, 2026) keeps a separate table for each year from 2009 through 2026, plus an archive of older years. Knowing what a row holds saves a wasted request:
- Case number: the format is family, sequence and year, such as RCMP-0001-2024. Copy it exactly; it is the key the Records Unit files by.
- Name: for recorded maps this is often just a street name, not a full address, so match it against the plat location before assuming it’s your parcel.
- Approval date: some rows show an approval a year or more after the case year. Use the case year to find the row and the approval date to describe it.
- Linked approvals: Certificate of Appropriateness minor-work cases for historic districts and landmarks, such as Oakwood, Boylan Heights and Glenwood-Brooklyn, link straight to an approval PDF. Many ASR, plat and subdivision rows carry no link, which is why the plan set has to be requested.
If the property is in a local historic district, check the COA rows for the same years. A minor-work certificate can explain an exterior change that never needed a site plan, and its PDF is already public.
Treat a portal view as a document check, not the entire history
The City’s 2025 guide describes records in the portal dating back to 2000, but gives a narrower rule for preliminary and approved ASR, RCMP and SUB plan sets: 2020 onward. Do not apply the broader records date to plan attachment availability. A pre-2020 case may have a case listing or permit information without an online plan set. Conversely, a blank plan tab says little unless you have matched the right case and record type.
For post-2020 material, the guide directs readers to the portal to view the plan set when available. For an older case or an updated submittal you cannot find, the Development Approvals page points to the City’s records-request route and lists PlanDevRecords@raleighnc.gov for help. Make the request specific:
- Identify the case: Give its case number, project name and location from the year table or portal.
- Name the plan: Specify ASR, RCMP or SUB and the preliminary, approved or revised version or stage you need.
- Ask for the missing file: Say which plan set you could not view and ask whether the Records Unit has a copy or can direct you to the correct file.
If the case number is unknown, include the approximate project year to help staff distinguish similarly named proposals.
The City’s guide notes that records already available through self-service are not supplied through another route; identify the specific missing document rather than requesting an entire portal record again.
Do not read a missing attachment as a missing approval
An ASR case row, a recorded map, a preliminary plan and an approved plan answer different questions. Keep the document title and date with the case number. If you are trying to verify construction, a development-plan listing does not prove that a building permit was issued, inspected or finalized. Follow the associated permit and inspection records separately; our final inspection status guide explains that later stage. A missing pre-2020 portal attachment leaves the plan-document question open until the City’s Records Unit checks the file.
For a property in Durham, permit and inspection history since October 2007 sits in a shared City-County portal; how to search Durham permits and inspections in LDO explains its search menus.
Raleigh Permit Portal Records Guide and Development Approvals page checked October 20, 2026.