Updated August 2026
Which permits an excavation actually needs in the Cowichan Valley
Four separate authorities can govern one excavation in the Cowichan Valley, and Duncan Excavating confirms which apply before work is scheduled. North Cowichan requires a soil permit above 300 cubic metres per parcel; the Riparian Areas Protection Regulation sets a 30 metre assessment strip along every stream; an Agricultural Land Commission Notice of Intent is filed 60 days ahead.
Updated August 2026
Whose rules apply depends on where a property sits, and in this valley that changes over short distances. The City of Duncan covers 2.07 square kilometres, North Cowichan is the adjacent municipality, and the Cowichan Valley Regional District administers the electoral areas beyond. A parcel two roads apart from another can answer to a different authority, with a different threshold and a different waiting period.
A permit is a decision by an authority that work may proceed. A notice, such as the Agricultural Land Commission's Notice of Intent, is a filing that starts a clock rather than a request for approval — and the distinction changes how a schedule is built.
The work these approvals apply to is set out on Footings and Foundations.
Start with who governs the parcel, and who owns the road
These are two separate questions and they can have two different answers. The parcel determines the building permit authority and the soil rules. The road determines the access permit, and a driveway meeting a provincial highway is governed by the Province regardless of which municipality the house sits in. Getting this wrong is the most common way a groundwork schedule loses weeks, because the applications are not interchangeable and neither authority will process the other's.
| Authority | What it administers | What is published |
|---|---|---|
| City of Duncan | Building permits, driveway access, work on city property, protected trees | A building permit, when required, must be issued before any work can take place. Driveway access permit $50 with a $1,000 damage deposit. |
| Municipality of North Cowichan | Building permits, soil removal and deposit, highway access | Soil Removal and Deposit Bylaw No. 3311 requires a permit to remove soil or deposit fill unless an exemption applies. States it has no tree protection bylaw. |
| Cowichan Valley Regional District | Building permits in Electoral Areas A through I, soil deposit | Building Regulation Bylaw No. 4433 (2023). Soil Deposit Bylaw No. 4380, adopted 14 July 2021, in effect across all electoral areas. |
| Ministry of Transportation and Transit | Access onto provincial highways | A highway use permit is required to create or change access off a controlled access or numbered highway. |
| Agricultural Land Commission | Fill placement and soil removal in the ALR | Notice of Intent, $150, filed at least 60 days before the work. |
| WorkSafeBC | Excavation safety on every site, whichever authority issued the permit | OHS Regulation Part 20 applies province-wide. |
The exemptions worth knowing about
Several rules exempt more than people expect. The Ministry of Transportation and Transit states that property owners do not need a permit to create or change residential driveway access for a single family dwelling where the property is off a provincially maintained side road outside the municipal boundary and the access is not off a controlled access highway or numbered route. North Cowichan states plainly that it does not have a tree protection bylaw, although Development Permit Area 3 and Development Permit Area 4 still apply — while the City of Duncan does have one, requiring a permit for any tree 30 centimetres or more in diameter at breast height. North Cowichan's soil bylaw exempts parcels smaller than one hectare outright. And in the Agricultural Land Reserve, a structure for farm use or a principal residence affecting 1,000 square metres or less needs no Notice of Intent, nor do drainage and irrigation works up to 320 cubic metres per 16 hectares a year.
The rules that do not vary by address
WorkSafeBC's requirements apply on every site in the province regardless of which authority issued the permit, and they are the ones most likely to change what a job costs. Before excavating with powered equipment, the location of all underground utility services must be accurately determined. Any excavation deeper than 1.2 metres that a worker enters must be sloped, benched or shored. Excavated material stays 60 centimetres back from a trench edge and 1.2 metres from any other excavation. Past 6 metres, or where a structure sits adjacent, written instructions from a qualified registered professional are required.
| Rule | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Excavation entered by a worker must be sloped, benched or shored | Deeper than 1.2 metres | OHS Regulation |
| Excavated material set back from the edge | 60 cm from a trench; 1.2 m from any other excavation | OHS Regulation |
| Written instructions from a qualified registered professional required | Deeper than 6 metres, or a structure adjacent to the dig | OHS Regulation |
| Riparian assessment area along a stream | 30 metres each side, from the stream boundary | Riparian Areas Protection Regulation |
| Riparian assessment area at a ravine | 30 metres beyond the top of bank if under 60 m wide; 10 metres if 60 m or wider | Riparian Areas Protection Regulation |
| Soil permit exemption outside the ALR | The lesser of 300 m³ per parcel or 60 m³ per acre, per calendar year | North Cowichan Bylaw No. 3311 |
| Soil permit security | $4,000, plus $4,000 for each hectare disturbed | North Cowichan Bylaw No. 3311 |
| Notice of Intent for fill or soil removal in the ALR | $150, at least 60 days ahead | Agricultural Land Commission |
| Driveway access setback from an intersection or stop sign | 7 metres | North Cowichan Highway Use Bylaw No. 2261 |
| Utility locate notice period | 3 working days, or 5 for large projects | BC 1 Call |
Bylaw numbers and figures are as published at the time of writing. Where a figure could not be confirmed from an authority's own current material it is left out rather than estimated — see the section above on what could not be confirmed.
What could not be confirmed, and why it is listed anyway
Two things belong on this page as open questions rather than answers. The Cowichan Valley Regional District's Soil Deposit Bylaw No. 4380 was adopted on 14 July 2021 and is in effect throughout all electoral areas — that much the CVRD publishes plainly — but the bylaw text, its volume thresholds, its exemptions and its fees could not be read from the CVRD's own document library, and the district publishes separate Type A and Type B permit application forms whose difference is not explained on the public page. Separately, whether the City of Duncan has its own soil removal or deposit bylaw could not be established either way, because the city's bylaw library is not publicly readable. Neither gap is filled here with a neighbouring municipality's figure. Anyone planning volume work in either jurisdiction should ask the authority directly.
What to have in hand before a machine arrives
- 1
Confirm the authority — Which municipality or electoral area the parcel sits in, and who owns the road the access meets. Everything else follows from these two answers.
- 2
File anything with a clock on it first — An Agricultural Land Commission Notice of Intent runs at least 60 days, and the review period does not start until the notice is acknowledged as complete.
- 3
Building permit and its attachments — In the CVRD electoral areas the application asks for a site plan by a BC Land Surveyor, a land title search within 30 days, and any riparian or geotechnical reports up front.
- 4
Locates last, because they expire — A BC 1 Call ticket requires excavation to begin within 14 calendar days of the request, and stays valid for 30 calendar days once work has begun.
Anyone unsure which of these applies to a particular parcel is welcome to request a quote, and the approvals question gets answered as part of the site visit.