If your driveway or walkway crosses the property line toward the road, the City controls that strip. You need its permission for the design (an access permit) and then its permission for the digging (a road cut permit). Everything below is the detail of those two steps.
Do you need one?
You need an access permit to:
- Construct a new vehicular access
- Modify an existing one — and the City states that modifying includes widening
- Close or remove a vehicular access
- Construct or reconstruct an access culvert
- Install a pedestrian access, in cases that don't meet the criteria for installation without a permit
This applies to residential driveways, farm and field accesses, temporary accesses and accesses for other land uses.
You do not need an access permit for work entirely on your own property that leaves the access untouched — though the Zoning By-law's width caps still apply to it. Extensions →
The by-law that changed
On 8 April 2026 the City enacted the Access By-law (No. 2026-139), replacing the Private Approach By-law (No. 2003-447). Anything written before that date is describing a repealed by-law. What actually changed →
What your design has to satisfy
An access permit is an approval of the design and location of the access. The Access Design Requirements set out, among other things:
- The total width of the access
- The minimum distance from a neighbouring property line
- The distance from an intersection
- The slope
- Construction standards
And the access in the right of way may not be wider than the approved driveway width on your private property — so the zoning width governs both.
| 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 |
A permit cannot be issued if the proposed access would contravene the Access By-law or any other City by-law, the Zoning By-law included. That is where most refusals come from: the access design is fine, but the driveway it serves breaks a width, parking area or land use rule.
Permitted surfaces
Section 601(5) of the Zoning By-law lists what an access may be surfaced with:
- Asphalt, cement or permeable pavement
- Honeycomb or turf blocks
- Cobblestones, or a similar stable, dust-free material — this is where interlocking pavers sit
- Gravel, but only in rural areas
A pedestrian access has to be a firm, stable, continuous surface. Stepping stones and other loose rock are not a permitted access in the right of way, however good they look in a catalogue.
The order of operations
- Check the rules against your property. The fee is non-refundable, so this is not a step to skip. A Development Information Officer will answer property-specific questions: 613-580-2424 ext. 23434, or dioinquiry@ottawa.ca.
- Settle the design. Width, location, distance from the property line and the intersection, slope, surface.
- Apply for the access permit and pay the fee. It is due at application and is not refunded if the application is refused. (Current amount to confirm: PERMIT_FEE_TODO.)
- Get the access permit approved.
- Apply for the road cut permit. This is the separate approval, under the Road Activity By-law (No. 2003-445), that lets the physical work happen in the right of way.
- Call Ontario One Call for utility locates before anyone digs.
- Build it — using a business that holds a City of Ottawa hardscaping contractor licence.
Front yard parking permits are on hold. The Zoning By-law (No. 2026-50) permissions for creating new front yard parking spaces are not in effect until the Ontario Land Tribunal declares those regulations in effect. The City anticipated that happening by the end of September 2026. Until it does, the City cannot process a permit application to install or widen an access serving a new front yard parking space.
If that is your project, the sensible move is to get the design and quote settled now and file the moment the hold lifts — which also puts you in the queue for spring rather than at the back of it.
Any business that installs, alters or paves hard landscaping in Ottawa — including a driveway or walkway access — must hold a City of Ottawa hardscaping contractor licence. It is a straight question worth asking every company that quotes you, alongside proof of insurance. A crew that cannot answer it is telling you something.
Two things that surprise people
Heated driveways are an encroachment, not an upgrade
A snow and ice melting system that runs from your property into the right of way is an encroachment. The City does not permit encroachments except in special circumstances, and approval means a formal encroachment agreement registered on title, annual fees, carrying insurance, and taking on all maintenance and liability yourself. Ontario One Call registration is required too. Not all encroachments are approved, and an unpermitted one may be removed at your expense under the Encroachment By-law (No. 2003-446).
The permit is the owner's, not the contractor's
An access permit is required before a property owner can construct, modify, close or remove an access. A contractor can prepare the design and help you through it — we do — but the application and the obligation sit with you. Be wary of anyone who implies otherwise, or who suggests skipping it.
How we help
We are a contractor, not the City. We cannot issue a permit, approve a design or promise an outcome. What we can do is check your frontage against the by-law before you spend anything, prepare a design that meets the Access Design Requirements, give you one written price for the build, and tell you plainly if what you want is not permitted.
Have us check your property first
Send the address and frontage width. We'll tell you what's permitted and which of the two permits you need before you pay any fee.