Do You Need a Permit for a Driveway in Nanaimo?

Inside the City of Nanaimo

The City's own wording is that a permit is required when you are installing an access, such as a driveway, to a city street or laneway. The permit costs $25, plus bonding, and the bonding amount is determined at time of application. Development Engineering handles it.

What the City asks you for

The application has to include the Permit Application itself. If you are not the registered owner of the property, it also has to include an Appointment of Agent form. We put the paperwork together with you rather than leaving you to work out which form is which.

In the District of Lantzville

Lantzville is its own municipality and runs its own permit. The District's wording is that if you are applying for a new driveway access permit or modifying an existing driveway access, you must complete the Driveway Access Permit Application form. The fee is $200.00, and you provide a completed application form and a survey showing the proposed driveway location.

How a Lantzville application is handled

Applications are submitted through Cloudpermit, in a separate application workspace. District staff review the materials against District bylaws and contact the applicant if anything is missing. An approved permit is downloaded from Cloudpermit.

Access off a provincial highway

The Province's wording is that local governments, developers and property owners must apply for a highway use permit to create or change access off a provincial highway. There is an exemption, also in the Province's wording: property owners do not need a permit to create or change residential driveway access for a single family dwelling if the property is located off a provincially maintained side road outside the municipal boundary, and the access is not off a controlled access highway or numbered route.

How we handle the permit with you

1. 1

   We identify the authority — we establish which authority your driveway access falls under before anything is booked.

2. 2

   We put the application together — the forms that authority asks for, and the survey where the District of Lantzville needs one.

3. 3

   It goes in — through Cloudpermit for Lantzville, to Development Engineering for the City, and through PASport or form H0020 for the Province.

4. 4

   We pave once it is approved — the approved permit comes back and the work goes in the schedule.

Which one applies to your driveway?

That depends on the road your driveway meets and who maintains it. We work that out and confirm it with you before we start. For rural addresses in Cedar and Nanoose Bay it is the first thing we check.