Commercial Permits · Aurora, York Region
Commercial permits for Aurora: fit-outs, change of use, business licence drawings and fire and life-safety design, checked against the uses Zoning By-law 6000-17 allows and filed through the Town’s CityView Portal by our P.Eng and BCIN team in Richmond Hill.
What’s included
Commercial work is judged on the code analysis before it is judged on the drawings. We classify the occupancy, confirm the zoning and work out the fire and exit requirements first, so the layout you commit to is one the city will approve. In Aurora the package goes to the Town of Aurora Building Division, and it is drawn to that department’s checklist.
Fit-outs & new builds
Tenant fit-outs, alterations and new commercial construction, drawn to scale with the designer’s credentials and signature the Ontario Building Code requires on commercial plans.
New occupancy
Required whenever a building’s purpose changes, even with no construction: an office becoming a restaurant, a clinic becoming a supermarket, a residential unit becoming a shop.
Opening the doors
The approvals a new business needs beyond the building permit, worked out before the lease is signed so nothing surprises you at opening.
Occupant safety
Fire alarm, sprinkler, emergency lighting and exit-sign layouts, designed with the permit package so the fire department and the building department see one set.
The package
Find your situation below. If it’s there, this is the service, and the card underneath is everything you get from our one office.
07 common situations
07
items in your package, all from one P.Eng and BCIN team.
Drawn & stamped in-house
How it runs
Four steps, timed around your lease. We start with the code analysis so the layout you fall in love with is one the city will approve.
We measure the unit, confirm the zoning permits your use, and classify the occupancy under the Building Code. That tells us what the space needs before any layout is drawn.
Floor plan, exits, washrooms, kitchen and mechanical rooms are laid out together with your designer’s or franchisor’s standards, so the permit set and the fit-out drawings agree.
Architectural, structural, mechanical and fire-safety sheets come from one office, stamped by our P.Eng and BCIN designers.
We file the building permit and support the sign permit, fire inspection and licence applications that follow, answering city comments at no extra charge.
Case files
Open any file for the scope, the disciplines involved, what we delivered and what the owner came away with.
A compact two-storey suite in a Toronto backyard. Architectural and structural drawings, zoning review and a framing package that makes every square foot count.
Delivered
New living space on a lot the owners already had.
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Structural walls came out and rooms were added to open the plan. Beam and column design, permit drawings and renovation coordination through to final inspection.
Delivered
An open layout where the load-bearing walls used to be.
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A code-compliant second unit with its own entrance, fire separations between the units, HVAC design and the full permit package.
Delivered
A legal second unit that brings in rent and adds property value.
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A new build taken from the client’s sketch to occupancy, with the architectural, structural and mechanical design done by one team.
Delivered
Built to the client’s own plan, with one team answering for every discipline.
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A two-storey garden suite laid out to get the most usable space from the footprint, designed and permitted as a rentable unit.
Delivered
Rental income and a higher property value.
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A dental office converted into a supermarket. Interior renovation, a new plumbing system and fire separations upgraded to the Ontario Fire Code.
Delivered
A dental office reopened as a supermarket, compliant with the Ontario Fire Code.
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A custom covered porch that turns the front of the house into usable outdoor space. Addition design and structural drawings for the permit.
Delivered
More usable outdoor space and added home value.
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Site grading to manage drainage and prepare the land for a new driveway, drawn as a grading plan for the site alteration permit.
Delivered
Drainage handled and the land ready for a new driveway.
Start a project like thisPhoto plates
Additions, basements, kitchens, new builds and commercial fit-outs. Drag a row to scrub through it, or open any photo full size.Tap any photo to see it full size.
21 platesResidential, commercial & new build
The drawing set
Framing schedules, wall assemblies, dimensions and a city review stamp, as issued. Client title blocks are trimmed off to protect the people we drew them for.
Drawing set
Sheets in this set
Sheet title
Existing basement plan
The existing house recorded before any design: beams, joists and bearing walls.
Drawing no.
2 of 5
Service area
From the office we cover the whole GTA, north to Barrie and Orillia, east to Peterborough and Cobourg, west to Kitchener and Brantford, and down through Niagara.
46 across 8 regions
York Region
Toronto & Peel
Halton
Durham
Simcoe & Dufferin
Waterloo, Wellington & Brant
Hamilton, Niagara & Haldimand
Kawarthas & Northumberland
Past the 90-minute line
We've also completed projects in London and Strathroy. Farther out than that? Call (416) 990-9179 and ask.
Permits filed with municipalities including
Before you call
Anything we haven’t answered here, we’ll answer on a call. The first consultation is free.
(416) 990-9179The Town of Aurora Building Division reviews it as a building permit application, with or without construction. York Region is the upper tier and plays no part in the permit itself. Aurora also has a site alteration by-law, so a job that regrades the lot for parking or a patio can need a second permit with a grading plan.
Only when the work reaches regulated land near a watercourse, valley, wetland or floodplain in Aurora, which Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority (LSRCA) maps. Ontario Regulation 41/24 counts site grading, moving fill and building or enlarging a structure as development activity, so the trigger for a commercial job is outside work: a patio, an addition or new parking. Where it applies, the LSRCA permit comes before the building permit.
Yes. Aurora residents can apply for building permits online through the Town’s CityView Portal, and the same portal shows application status and handles inspection requests. We can book the fit-out inspections there too, timed to the contractor’s schedule and your opening date.
Yes. We take on commercial permits across Aurora, including Aurora Heights and Regency Acres, about half an hour from our Richmond Hill office. The first consultation is free, by phone or on site.
Three things to start: unit address and the landlord’s base-building drawings, if any; what the space was used for before, and what you plan; and your lease start date and any landlord deadlines. Send those and we tell you what the Town of Aurora Building Division will ask for before we quote.
We find the unit’s zone in By-law 6000-17 and confirm your use is on its list before anything is drawn. A unit last approved before Council adopted the by-law in 2017 deserves a closer look, because its old use may not appear on the current list. If yours is missing, the zoning has to change first, and no drawing filed with the Town of Aurora Building Division can get around that.
Several. The building permit for the fit-out or the change of use comes from the Town of Aurora Building Division through CityView, while health approval, the fire inspection, a sign permit and any liquor licence each come from their own office. We prepare the drawings those reviews share, such as the floor plan, the seating and occupant load, and the exits, so the numbers match across all of them.
It can be. Northeast Old Aurora is the town’s only heritage conservation district under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act, so we ask the Town how the designation applies to signs, windows and other exterior changes before drawing them. The building permit for the fit-out still comes from the Town of Aurora Building Division.
Sometimes. Bylaw 5850-16 applies to trees on private land, commercial lots included, and a heritage tree needs a permit before it comes down. On a larger property the by-law lets two trees per quarter hectare go each year without a permit, so we count the trees a patio or a parking expansion would take before the site plan goes to the Town of Aurora Building Division.
Yes. The Town of Aurora Building Division reviews the alteration against the Building Code, while the Ontario Fire Code sets fire-safety rules for the existing building around your unit, with the owner responsible and the municipal fire department enforcing it. We draw the fire separations, exits and alarm layout so one set answers both, and file it through CityView.
Searched & answered
Short answers to the commercial permits questions people search most, and the broader topics they lead to.
Not covered here? Book a free consultationOnly where the zoning allows the new use, or after a minor variance or a rezoning, because a building permit can only be issued for work that meets applicable law and zoning is part of it. The conversion is then a change of use permit, often with accessibility, exit and fire-separation upgrades. Fine Engineering checks the zoning before anything is drawn.
No. A building permit covers construction and changes of use under the Building Code Act. A business licence is a separate municipal approval to operate, and which businesses need one depends on the municipality and the type of business. A new restaurant or clinic can need both, applied for separately. Fine Engineering works out which ones apply to an address before the lease is signed.
The number of people a space is designed to hold under the Ontario Building Code, worked out from its use and floor area. It sets the number of exits, exit widths and washrooms and, for a bar or restaurant, the capacity on the liquor licence. Fine Engineering calculates occupant load in every commercial permit set.
It depends on the building’s size, height and occupancy, and on whether the base building is already sprinklered. A change to a higher-hazard use, such as a restaurant or an assembly space, can trigger sprinklers where none existed. Fine Engineering’s fire-safety design answers the question early, before the layout is fixed.
Yes. A restaurant is a different occupancy from an office, so the switch needs a change of use permit before any fit-out starts, and the kitchen exhaust, plumbing and fire separations go on the same application. Health approval and, where alcohol is served, an AGCO liquor licence follow separately. Fine Engineering draws the permit set and the licence plans together.
It is the building permit for work on a commercial building or unit: a tenant fit-out, an alteration, an addition or a new building. Ontario’s Building Code Act says no one may construct or demolish a building until the chief building official has issued a permit, and constructing includes materially altering an existing one. Fine Engineering prepares commercial permit sets across the GTA and Ontario.
Good to know
In Aurora the reviewer is the Town of Aurora Building Division. Every Aurora lot sets its own terms: the previous use of the unit, the base building’s fire separations and exits and the landlord’s own drawings decide how much the permit set has to cover.
We walk the site with the survey, usually within a day or two of the call, before anything is drawn, then file the commercial permits package to the Town of Aurora Building Division’s own checklist.
Aurora runs to established postwar neighbourhoods west of Yonge seeing infill rebuilds, with newer subdivisions in the Bayview secondary plan areas to the east. A house on an established street that becomes an office or a clinic is a change of use, and the zoning for that street is read before anything else, since a permit can only be issued for a use the by-law allows there.
By-law 6000-17 was Aurora’s first full zoning review since 1979, approved by Council in June 2017. For a commercial unit we read the zone’s permitted uses and any conditions attached to them before a fit-out is drawn. That reading decides whether the job is a building permit alone or needs a planning application first, which is worth knowing before a lease is signed.
On a business lot inside the Northeast Old Aurora Heritage Conservation District, outdoor work meets Aurora’s tree bylaw at its strictest: Bylaw 5850-16 asks for a permit before a single tree on a district lot comes down. We lay out a patio, a wider parking area or a rear addition around the trees we find at the first site visit, and if a tree has to come down, we apply for its permit before the building permit goes in.
Contact us
Tell us the address and the use, and we’ll tell you what the city will ask for, on a free first call.
First consultation free(416) 990-9179