A pre-application inquiry is always encouraged when you are considering an Outdoor Café, including when the patio will be on private property or spanning over private and public property.

Set up a pre-application by contacting our Planning Services Centre. We will arrange a pre-application inquiry (simple) and our Community Planning team will help you with this process. We will be in contact within 7 days to discuss your plans and next steps for your Outdoor Café.

Development permits are required for outdoor cafés on private property. Outdoor cafés are a discretionary permit. They require circulation, a notice posting, and a 21-day appeal period.

Please note that Development Permits are not guaranteed to be approved.

For more information, see the When is a Development Permit required section.

Permitted or Discretionary? What’s the difference?

In the Land Use Bylaw, Uses are defined as either being Permitted or Discretionary in a Land Use District.

 

Permitted means that, if a use meets all the rules of the bylaw, it must be approved.  The uses listed as permitted were intended for this location and have little to no impact on the surrounding community.

 

Permitted with Relaxation means a use that is permitted but requires a relaxation of one of more bylaw rules. Evaluations are done on a case-by-case basis to determine if the relaxation is appropriate and how it impacts the surrounding community.

 

Discretionary use means that the use needs to be reviewed and is evaluated against several factors including applicable policies, appropriateness of the location, the compatibility of the use with others in the surrounding area, access, parking, servicing, and sound planning principles. Each submission is reviewed on its own merit at the time of application as discretionary uses have a higher impact on the surrounding community.

In some cases, a Building Permit will be required. Building safety approval is required to make sure that your proposed outdoor patio meets the building safety requirements.  When you apply for your development permit, your plans will be circulated to our Building Safety team to determine if a building permit is required.

Download the building permit guidelines and the building permit application requirement list.

If the patio will be temporary or seasonal and located on public property, like the public sidewalk or in the parking lane, please visit Calgary.ca/seasonalpatios. Review the Guidelines for Seasonal Patios located on public property

A Licence of occupation is issued by Real Estate & Development Services. This is the approval required for an outdoor patio that is not contained on private property, but rather on public property (sidewalk or road right-of-way). The outdoor patio will be in place year-round and may have permanent structures such as a pergola, glass roof or sea can and may involve services (electrical, heat). The approval is started through a Stream 3 pre-application inquiry. Start the process by contacting the Planning Services Centre and setting up a pre-application inquiry. Once the pre-application is set up, you will be contacted by a Senior Planning Technician to review the site and your plans for an Outdoor Café.

Separate trade permits are required for each trade (ie electrical, plumbing, gas and HVAC) and will need to be applied for by the appropriate trade contractor. Read more about Hiring a contractor.

Online submissions

For online submissions with large permit costs, there is a deposit process in place that limits the amount paid online. For building permit fees over $10,000, only 25% of the base permit fee will be charged as an initial deposit, up to a maximum of $10,000. If 25% of the building permit base fee exceeds $10,000, you will be contacted to make payment for the remaining permit fee balance and any applicable additional fees (i.e. partial permit, lot grades, SCC, etc.) For example, if 25% of the permit fee is $25,000, you will pay a $10,000 deposit online and our Cash Office will contact you the next business day to make the payment for the remaining $15,000 of the deposit.

Please note, the remaining permit fees must be paid prior to a partial permit or the full permit being issued. In order to pay the remaining total, please choose one of the following payment methods and reference your permit number: 

By Phone (only available by credit card):

In order to make payment over the phone by credit card please call 403-268-5311.

By Mail (only available for cheques):

The City of Calgary 
Attention: Planning Cashiers- 8108 
PO BOX 2100 STN M 
Calgary, AB  T2P 2M5 

By Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT): 

If you would like to pay by Electronic Funds Transfer you will select the payment option upon application. No fees will be processed at the time of the application intake. The Planning Cash Office will contact you the next business day and provide you with instructions to complete the EFT payment.

After the patio is built, you are required to schedule a development completion permit inspection. Please contact the Planning Services Center to book your inspection.

For an outdoor café, you will be advised at development permit issuance if a building permit is required. 

When no building permit is required, after setting up your outdoor café, you must call 311 to request a special event fire inspection.

Please note that the inspection process is dynamic, and an inspection outcome depends on the construction method and site conditions at time of inspection. Please contact the Technical Assistance Centre for more information.