Permits and property lines in Edmonton, checked before quoting
Resurfacing what is already there rarely needs permission. Changing where the surface goes, how big it is, or how it meets the road can, and the boundary is usually closer to your house than people assume.
Replacing a surface with the same surface in the same place is the straightforward case. Nothing about the property changes, so in most places this is maintenance rather than something requiring an application.
Changing the footprint is where it shifts. Widening a drive, extending it, adding a second parking area or increasing how much of a lot is hard surface can all touch local rules, often because of how much water the property sheds afterwards.
A survey or your title documents, not the fence and not the kerb. Both of those are frequently in the wrong place relative to the actual boundary.
Identify the apron
The strip where the drive meets the road is often municipal. Work there may need permission even when the rest of the drive does not.
Ask whether the footprint is changing
Same size in the same place is usually simple. More area, a new access point or a different shape may not be.
Agree who is applying
Whether the contractor handles the application or you do should be written down, because assuming the other party is doing it stops the job on the morning.
Where the line sits
Why the Edmonton boundary is closer than you think
Fences get rebuilt a little off. Kerbs and sidewalks were placed to a road allowance rather than to your title. Over decades the visible edges of a property drift away from the legal ones in both directions.
This matters most on a shared drive or a tight side passage, where a surface laid to the fence can end up over a neighbour's line. That is an expensive thing to discover after the asphalt is down and compacted.
The cheap version of this check is a conversation and a look at the documents before work starts. Widening, a full replacement and rebuilding an edge are the three jobs where the boundary comes up most often.
Usually not, if it is the same surface in the same place. Replacing like for like is normally treated as maintenance rather than as a change to the property.
That often does need a check, because it increases how much hard surface the property has and therefore how much water it sheds. Requirements vary by municipality.
Commonly the municipality rather than you. The apron where a drive meets the highway sits in the road allowance in many places, so work there can need permission.
Not reliably. Fences get rebuilt slightly off their original position, and kerbs were placed to a road allowance rather than to your title, so both can sit a surprising distance from the surveyed boundary.
Whoever you agree in writing. Assuming the other party is handling it is the usual reason a job stops on the morning it was supposed to start.
It becomes a dispute with a neighbour and a cost to put right, which is why a look at the documents beforehand is worth the small amount of effort it takes.
