What is a pedestrian access under Ottawa's Access By-law?

Under the City of Ottawa's Access By-law (No. 2026-139, enacted April 8, 2026), a residential pedestrian access is a walkway access connecting private property to the street through the City's right of way. The by-law sets out when you can build one without a permit and what dimensions it must meet.

Section 18 of the Access By-law says a residential pedestrian access may be built without an access permit if it does not exceed 1.8 metres in width, is not within 0.6 metres of a fire hydrant or 1.8 metres of a vehicular access, and involves no modification to the curb or sidewalk. There is one additional condition: where the frontage is 12 metres or less and there is an existing vehicular access, a pedestrian access is not permitted unless otherwise approved by the City.

Section 20(3) also exempts resurfacing an existing access from the permit requirement, provided there are no alterations to the location or dimensions of the access or the site grading.

If the pedestrian access does not meet all of those section 18 conditions, a permit is required under section 20(1) before any construction, reconstruction, relocation or alteration begins. The 2026 fee schedule sets the access permit at $208. Where work in the right of way involves road activity, a road cut permit is also required, and the contractor doing the work must obtain that permit before work begins. The City says processing, including the road cut permit, takes six to eight weeks, so it is worth confirming timing before scheduling a pour.

A few other points from the by-law are worth knowing. The right of way is the City-owned strip that includes the roadway, shoulder, sidewalk and the boulevard beside your property. Its width varies and may be wider than you expect; the City's Landscaping Education Guide says geoOttawa shows the approximate line and that a licensed surveyor can give you the exact property boundary. In the right of way, the only hard landscaping permitted is a driveway and a walkway access. Stepping stones and loose rocks are not a permitted access in the right of way. Section 6 of the by-law places the cost of any work on an access, including curbs, culvert pipe, headwalls and steps, on the property owner.

Zoning also applies to the walkway on your private property side of the line. Zoning By-law 2026-50 caps a walkway leading to a front or exterior side lot line at 1.8 metres in width, and the cumulative width of all walkways plus driveways and parking spaces in a front or exterior side yard must not exceed 50 per cent of the lot width. Because applications deemed complete on or after March 11, 2026 must comply with both Zoning By-law 2008-250 and Zoning By-law 2026-50, with the most restrictive provisions applying, confirm the rules for your specific lot with the City before finalising the design.

Before work starts, have in hand a written contract that sets out the full scope and price, any access permit the City has issued, and the City's Landscaping Education Guide, which a licensed hardscaping contractor is required to give you.