Which Permits Does Excavation Work Need in the Comox Valley?
Excavation in the Comox Valley can touch five separate authorities: the City of Courtenay or CVRD Building Services for the building permit, the city's soil bylaw for depositing or removing soil, the Ministry of Transportation and Transit for highway access, the Agricultural Land Commission for fill on ALR land, and BC 1 Call for utility locates before any powered digging.
Updated July 2026
A building permit authorizes a structure; a soil permit authorizes moving the ground that structure sits on. The two are separate approvals from separate desks, and holding one does not grant 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. Working out which of these applies to a specific property is a one-afternoon question with a two-month consequence.
Once the approvals are clear, land clearing is usually the first machine on site.
Building permits: two different desks
Which building authority governs a property is the first question and the one most often answered wrong. The City of Courtenay Building Division handles structures inside city boundaries. CVRD Building Services administers building, plumbing, sprinkler, demolition and fireplace permits across the three electoral areas — Baynes Sound–Denman/Hornby, Lazo North, and Puntledge–Black Creek — with Denman and Hornby Islands excluded from that service.
The Town of Comox and the Village of Cumberland each administer their own. A mailing address reading Courtenay does not settle the question; a property tax notice does.
Foundation excavation is covered by the building permit for the structure. Excavation for something that is not a structure — a driveway, a drain, a pond, a levelled paddock — generally is not, which is where the other approvals below come in.
| 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 | 250-334-6006 |
| Soil deposit or removal | City of Courtenay, Subdivision & Development Engineering | Depositing or removing soil inside city boundaries | 250-703-4839 |
| 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 | Lots over 4,000 m², sensitive areas, six protected species | Tree management, courtenay.ca |
| Utility locate | BC 1 Call | Before any powered excavation, everywhere | 1-800-474-6886 |
Moving soil is a separate approval
Depositing or removing soil inside City of Courtenay boundaries falls under the city's soil fill and placement bylaw, administered by Subdivision and Development Engineering rather than the Building Division. The application requires schedules prepared by a qualified professional, and exemptions exist for road construction, work by a government authority, work carried out under an approved building permit, and subdivision servicing.
The city does not publish a volume threshold on its soil fill and placement page, so the practical answer is to ask before importing or exporting material rather than afterward. The contact is Subdivision and Development Engineering at 250-703-4839.
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. Farming activity is permitted; moving soil 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 Commission's chief executive officer then has 60 days from receipt to approve the work in writing, request more information, or order the activity stopped unless a full application is made.
That timeline is the most common scheduling surprise on rural projects in the valley. A two-day job can sit behind a two-month approval, and the only remedy is filing early.
| 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. Local governments, developers and property owners all fall under that requirement, and commercial and industrial development needs a permit regardless of road class.
The residential exemption is narrow but covers many Comox Valley properties: a driveway serving a single family dwelling does not need a ministry permit where the property is off a provincially maintained side road outside municipal boundaries, and the road is neither a controlled-access highway nor a numbered route. Both conditions have to hold.
The CVRD building permit checklist lists Highways Access Approval as a may-be-required document for properties accessing numbered highways, which is a useful cross-check — if the checklist flags it, the ministry is in scope.
Trees, water and sensitive ground
The City of Courtenay's Tree Protection and Management Bylaw No. 2850 requires a tree cutting permit on lots over 4,000 m², in environmentally sensitive areas, and for six protected species at any size. Fees run $100 for a general permit and $500 on the larger lots, with a $300 per-tree replacement bond and a $1,000 per-tree protection security where trees are retained through construction. A hazardous tree permit carries no fee.
Work near a watercourse brings provincial riparian protection into scope alongside the bylaw, and an assessment by a qualified environmental professional may be required before ground is disturbed.
The CVRD checklist also flags a coastal floodplain assessment for properties within 100 metres of the Strait of Georgia, and a Ministry of Environment site disclosure statement where the site history warrants one.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Replacement bond | $300 per tree |
| Protection security | $1,000 per tree |
| Hazardous tree permit | No fee |
| Protected at any size | 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. Nothing here substitutes for confirming with the authority that governs a specific property. Updated July 2026.
How to clear the approvals in order
- 1
Establish the jurisdiction — A Courtenay mailing address is not 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 all supporting documents at application and will not accept an incomplete package — sealed drawings, a site plan by a BC Land Surveyor or approved alternative, a title search dated within 30 days, sewerage filing from Island Health or a registered practitioner, a hazardous materials declaration for any demolition, and a BC Energy Step Code pre-construction report.
- 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 has no jurisdictional exemption. WorkSafeBC OHS Regulation section 20.79 requires the location of all underground utility services in the area to be accurately determined before excavating or drilling with powered tools and equipment — on any property, for any scope.
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. The toll-free line is 1-800-474-6886.
Section 20.81 is the companion requirement: before a worker enters any excavation over 1.2 metres in depth, the sides must be sloped, benched, shored or otherwise supported. Neither of these is a permit, and both are non-negotiable.
Where each of these approvals actually applies: what these approvals do to a budget, the access permit question in practice and clearing under Bylaw 2850.
Approvals are cheaper to sort out before a machine is booked than after. Request a free site assessment and the applicable approvals get identified alongside the scope.