Section 606 of the Zoning By-law (No. 2026-50) sets maximum driveway width and location, and it varies by where you are in the city and how much frontage you have. Here is how to apply it to your own lot.
Cap one: the area rule
| Where your property is | Maximum driveway width |
|---|---|
| Downtown core and urban areas | Generally 6 m |
| Urban lots with less than 6 m of frontage | No individual driveway permitted — the driveway must be shared with an abutting lot |
| All other areas, including the rural and village areas | 50% of the lot width |
| Every property, as a separate cap | All accesses together — driveway and walkway — cannot exceed 50% of the frontage they sit on |
So: if you are in the downtown core or an urban area, start at 6 metres. If you are in a rural or village area — Russell, Embrun, Navan, Vars, Sarsfield and the rest — start at 50% of your lot width, which on a wide rural frontage can be considerably more than 6 metres.
Cap two: all your accesses added together
This is the one that catches people. The total width of all accesses on the property — the driveway and any walkway — cannot exceed 50% of the property frontage they sit on.
A 12 metre urban frontage. Half of that is 6 metres, which happens to match the urban driveway cap — so far so good. But you also have a 1.2 metre front walkway crossing the right of way. That walkway is an access too. Your driveway is now capped at 4.8 metres, not 6.
Which is why, on a narrow lot, the cheapest way to gain driveway width is sometimes to narrow or relocate the front walk.
Cap three: the access can't be wider than the driveway
The access in the right of way is not permitted to be wider than the approved driveway width on private property. You cannot flare the bottom of the driveway at the curb to make turning in easier, however much you would like to.
The narrow-lot rule
On urban lots less than 6 metres wide, an individual driveway is not permitted at all. The driveway has to be shared with an abutting lot. If you own one of these, widening is a conversation with your neighbour before it is a conversation with the City.
Other things that constrain the design
Width is the headline, but the Access Design Requirements also set a minimum distance from a neighbouring property line, a distance from an intersection, a slope limit and construction standards. A corner lot in particular can be limited by the intersection setback long before it runs out of width.
Don't take our arithmetic to the bank
This page explains the shape of the rules. It cannot tell you what is permitted on your lot, because that depends on your zoning, your exact frontage, where your property line actually runs and what else sits in the right of way. Two houses on the same street can differ.
Confirm it with a Development Information Officer at 613-580-2424 ext. 23434 or dioinquiry@ottawa.ca — or send us the address and we'll work through it with you.
Send us your frontage and we'll do the arithmetic
Address, frontage width, current driveway width and whether you have a front walkway. That's enough for us to give you your number.