Which Permits Does Excavation Work Need in the Comox Valley?
Courtenay Excavating reviews permit requirements across Courtenay, Comox and the CVRD. We tell you which permits your project needs and who issues them, including whether you need to give the Agricultural Land Commission 60 days' notice before moving soil. Before we start digging, the only filing we submit for you is the free BC 1 Call locate ticket, which stays valid for 30 days.
Updated July 2026
A building permit covers the structure. A soil permit covers moving the ground it sits on. They're separate approvals from separate desks, and holding one doesn't grant you the other.
Most excavation delays in the Comox Valley are approval delays, not machine delays. The Agricultural Land Commission alone runs a 60-day notice period, which is longer than most of the digging. We review your property address and tell you exactly which local permits apply before work starts. Get it wrong, and you could be waiting two months for an approval.
Once the approvals are clear, land clearing is usually the first machine on site.
Building permits: two different desks
You need to work out which building authority governs your property first — it's the question people get wrong most often. The City of Courtenay Building Division handles structures inside city boundaries. CVRD Building Services issues building, plumbing and demolition permits across rural electoral areas — Baynes Sound, Lazo North, and Puntledge–Black Creek — excluding Denman and Hornby Islands.
The Town of Comox and the Village of Cumberland each administer their own. Your mailing address reading Courtenay doesn't settle the question; your property tax notice does.
Your main building permit includes the foundation excavation work for the structure. Excavation for something that is not a structure — a driveway, a drain, a pond, a levelled paddock — generally isn't, and that's when the other approvals apply.
| Approval | Authority | When it applies | Where to ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building permit (city) | City of Courtenay Building Division | Structures and foundations inside city boundaries | Development Services, courtenay.ca |
| Building permit (rural) | CVRD Building Services | The three electoral areas, excluding Denman and Hornby Islands | |
| Soil deposit or removal | City of Courtenay, Subdivision & Development Engineering | Depositing or removing soil inside city boundaries | Development Services |
| Highway access permit | Ministry of Transportation and Transit | Creating or changing access onto a provincial highway | Highway use permits, gov.bc.ca |
| Notice of Intent (fill or soil) | Agricultural Land Commission | Placing fill or removing soil on ALR land | alc.gov.bc.ca |
| Tree cutting permit | City of Courtenay | Trees over 20 cm DBH, protected species, $500 fee over 4,000 m² | Tree management, courtenay.ca |
| Utility locate | BC 1 Call | Before any powered excavation, everywhere |
Moving soil is a separate approval
Moving or placing soil inside Courtenay city limits falls under the city's soil fill bylaw, managed directly by Subdivision and Development Engineering. Soil permit applications require technical schedules prepared by a qualified professional, though exemptions exist for excavation work carried out under an approved building permit.
The city doesn't publish a volume threshold on its soil fill and placement page, so we recommend asking before importing or exporting material rather than afterward.
This is the approval most commonly missed on landscaping-adjacent projects — bringing in fill to level a yard is soil placement even when no building is involved.
ALR land and the 60-day clock
A large share of the flat, workable land in the Comox Valley sits inside the Agricultural Land Reserve, particularly through the Puntledge–Black Creek electoral area. You can farm that land without a permit, but moving soil on it is regulated.
Placing fill or removing soil for specified farm, non-farm or residential uses requires a Notice of Intent filed with the Agricultural Land Commission at least 60 days before the work begins, with a $150 fee. The Agricultural Land Commission has 60 days to review your soil notice, approve the work in writing, ask for further details or pause activity on site.
This 60-day review period is the most common scheduling delay on rural acreage builds. Your two-day job can end up behind a two-month approval, and filing early is the only fix.
| Item | Published figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| BC 1 Call locate | Free | Members respond in 3 working days; 5 on large projects |
| BC 1 Call ticket validity | 14 / 30 calendar days | Digging must start within 14 days; ticket valid 30 |
| ALC Notice of Intent — filing | 60 days before work | Filed with the Agricultural Land Commission |
| ALC Notice of Intent — fee | $150 | Payable to the Minister of Finance |
| ALC decision window | 60 days from receipt | Approve, request more information, or order a stop |
| Tree cutting permit | $100 | General permit |
| Tree cutting permit, large lot | $500 | Lots over 4,000 m² |
Highway access and who owns the road
The Ministry of Transportation and Transit requires a highway use permit to create or change access onto a provincial highway.
Many rural properties qualify for a permit exemption: a driveway serving a single family dwelling does not need a provincial highway permit if the property connects to a maintained rural side road outside city limits that is not a numbered route. Both conditions have to hold.
The CVRD building permit checklist flags provincial highway approval when your lot connects to a numbered route, letting you know early if ministry permits are needed.
Trees, water and sensitive ground
Under Courtenay's tree bylaw, you need a permit to cut any tree over 20 cm in diameter at chest height or any of six protected species: Garry oak, arbutus, Pacific dogwood, western white pine, Pacific yew, and trembling aspen. Standard permit applications cost $100, while properties larger than 4,000 m² pay a $500 fee. You must also provide a $300 deposit per replacement tree and a $1,000 security deposit for each protected species kept safe during construction. Fees run $100 for a general permit and $500 on the larger lots, with a $300 per-tree replacement bond and a $1,000 protection security per protected species where trees are retained through construction. A hazardous tree permit carries no fee.
Excavating near streams triggers provincial riparian rules alongside town bylaws, requiring an environmental professional to assess your site before digging begins.
The CVRD checklist requires a coastal floodplain assessment for sites within 100 metres of the Strait of Georgia, plus environmental site declarations if past land use warrants it.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Replacement bond | $300 per tree |
| Protection security | $1,000 per protected species |
| Hazardous tree permit | No fee |
| Protected over 0.5 m height | Garry oak, arbutus, Pacific dogwood, western white pine, Pacific yew, trembling aspen |
Figures are the ones published by each authority as of July 2026 and change without much notice. The City of Courtenay does not publish a cubic-metre threshold for its soil bylaw, so volume questions go to Subdivision and Development Engineering directly. We always confirm official permit requirements directly with the local authority governing your property. Updated July 2026.
How to clear the approvals in order
- 1
Establish the jurisdiction — Your Courtenay mailing address isn't the same as being inside the City of Courtenay. A property tax notice settles whether the city, the Town of Comox, the Village of Cumberland, or a CVRD electoral area governs the property.
- 2
Start the slowest approval first — Anything involving fill or soil removal on ALR land needs a Notice of Intent filed at least 60 days ahead. That clock runs regardless of how short the actual work is, so it goes first.
- 3
Assemble the building permit package — CVRD Building Services requires a complete application package before reviewing your permit. You must submit engineered structural drawings, an accurate site plan from a land surveyor, a current property title search dated within 30 days, and registered septic filings from Island Health. Demolition jobs also require hazardous materials declarations and pre-construction energy reports.
- 4
File the locate last — A BC 1 Call ticket is free but time-boxed: excavation must begin within 14 calendar days of the request and the ticket expires at 30. Filing before the other approvals land wastes the window.
The one requirement that applies everywhere
BC 1 Call locates are mandatory across all areas. We confirm every underground utility line location through BC 1 Call before operating heavy equipment on your lot.
The service costs nothing. Utility members have three working days to respond to a standard request and five on a large project, excavation must begin within 14 calendar days of the request date, and the ticket stays valid for 30 calendar days from that date.
WorkSafeBC requires us to slope, bench or shore any trench walls deeper than 1.2 metres before sending crew members inside to work. Neither of these is a permit, and both are non-negotiable.
Related: the excavation cost guide for what these approvals do to a budget, driveway and access for the access permit in practice, and land clearing for cutting under Bylaw 2850.
Sort out your approvals before you book a machine. Fixing them afterward costs more. Request a free site assessment and we'll identify the approvals that apply alongside the scope.