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Road occupancy permits

A road occupancy permit is required for any use within the City’s right-of-way. You must obtain a road occupancy permit before you occupy any part of the City right-of-way. For Special Events, please refer to the City’s Special Events Webpage. The right-of-way includes the paved area of the road, the boulevard and the sidewalk/multi-use trail. There are three (3) types of permits:

For utility works

For site servicing works

  • Required when a contractor who is working for a developer, builder or consultant plans to do work on the City right-of-way
  • This work must be already approved through a site plan, building permit, mechanical permit, or other process
  • Apply for Site Servicing
  • If a deposit is already part of the existing approval process, a damage deposit is not required with this application
  • If a Water Commissioning Plan is required, please use the Watermain Commissioning Plan Template for Contractors (MS Word .docx)

For capital projects

For miscellaneous works

  • Required when anyone plans to occupy the City right-of-way in any way other than those described under the two types of permits mentioned above
  • Examples: temporary material storage (e.g. gravel), operation of construction equipment, cranes, disposal bins or mobile storage units, hydro excavation work, landscape work, driveway apron work, facade work, etc.
  • A damage deposit may be required and will be determined based on the extent of the proposed activities
  • Apply for Miscellaneous Works

Fees

The permit fee for site serving works is $110 which is typically taken from the existing project deposit, for example, from the building permit or site plan approval. There is no permit fee for utility works. The permit fee for miscellaneous work is $110, in addition, some types of miscellaneous works require a damage deposit.

Damage deposits

The following table explains estimates of damage deposits that may be required with your application:

Type of work (Street occupancy permit for miscellaneous works)Deposit
Temporary construction fencingPlacement of containers, disposal bins and mobile storage unitsOperation of cherry picker, backhoe, forklift, scissor lift, zoom boom or roof hoistTemporary storage of scaffolding, plywood hoarding or covered walkwaySurveying, studies, or structure measurements (non-Capital project)None
Temporary material placementReceiving deliveriesPlacement of scaffolding, plywood hoarding or covered walkway$500
Landscaping projects on boulevardsTree trimming or removal (public or boundary tree, or when machinery is placed on City right-of-way)Hoisting with mobile or tower craneDriveways (new, or resurfacing existing)Digging (including hydro excavation)$1,000
Operating construction equipment, vehicles and trailers on or across the City’s curbs, sidewalk or boulevardsBorehole and monitoring well installation or sampling (non-capital project)Working close to a City-owned treeBy special assessment

Timelines

The timelines are based on how long it will take for us to inform the public about your impact to the neighbourhood. When you submit your application, be sure that the start date you include allows for these turn-around times, or we won’t be able to issue a permit. The following are general timelines:

  • 5 working days for work not involving traffic impacts
  • 10 working days for work involving traffic impacts to a local or collector road
  • 20 working days for work involving traffic impacts to an arterial road

Traffic Control Plan

Your submission must include a proposed traffic control plan if there will be impacts to traffic and pedestrians. The plan must be compliant with OTM Book 7 for Temporary Conditions and be presented similarly to the sample plans below:

Apply for a permit

There are three types of road occupancy permits and related submission requirements for utility, site service or miscellaneous work. Please refer to the appropriate permit application form to see what is required for your particular submission.

These application forms work best if downloaded, saved and then opened in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Please email your complete application submission package to [email protected] for staff to review.