Find out what
the lot allows
before you design.

A discretionary permission from a local board to depart from a specific zoning standard — commonly a setback, a height or a coverage limit — for a particular property. It is decided against published criteria at a public hearing, it is not a formality, and an approval can carry conditions.

It depends on the municipality's hearing calendar, its notice requirements and how complete the application is when lodged. Assembly is measured in weeks and the calendar is measured in months. We will give you that municipality's current process rather than a number that flatters us.

Nobody can tell you that, and anybody who does is selling something. It is a discretionary decision by a board. What we can do is tell you honestly whether your circumstances fit the published criteria, and whether a design change would let you skip the process entirely.

Only if the addition breaches a standard. Most additions we look at turn out to be permitted by right once the envelope is actually measured. That is why the feasibility check comes first — it is cheap, and it frequently ends the conversation happily.

Zoning governs what you may build and where on the parcel — use, setbacks, height, coverage. Building code governs how it must be constructed — structure, life safety, energy, wind. They are different codes, different reviews and often different departments, and a project can satisfy one and fail the other.

That depends entirely on your municipality and your zoning district. Whether an accessory dwelling is permitted, and on what terms, is decided locally and the rules differ between neighbouring jurisdictions and change over time. It has to be looked up for your parcel and confirmed with the municipality — never assumed from a general rule or from what a friend was allowed to do elsewhere.

Usually it means two street frontages and therefore two front setbacks rather than one, which can reduce the buildable envelope substantially. It is the single most common unpleasant surprise in this work.

For anything involving setbacks, easements or boundaries, yes — and a current one. Every subsequent decision is built on it, and an out-of-date survey misses encroachments and later recorded easements.

Neighbour comment is a normal part of a public hearing and objections are heard. Preparing for the objections that are actually likely — overlooking, massing, drainage, parking — is part of preparing the application properly.

We handle research, feasibility, application preparation and hearing support, and we coordinate the surveyors and design professionals the application needs. Where a matter calls for a land-use attorney we will say so rather than take it on.

Then the county's zoning code applies rather than a city's, and the process and the deciding body differ. Confirming which jurisdiction actually governs the parcel is the first step, and it is not always what the mailing address suggests.