Ottawa, Canada’s capital and its fourth-largest municipality, is introducing artificial intelligence into its residential permitting process to manage rising application volumes, increasing regulatory complexity, and delays linked to incomplete or inconsistent submissions.
The City of Ottawa will introduce an AI PreCheck programme using the Archistar platform, configured to assess submissions against local zoning and building code requirements. The system is designed to support early-stage checks on residential permit applications before they enter formal review.
Two-stage intake screening and compliance checks
The programme is structured around two main stages within the permitting process.
The first stage, known as Completeness Check, will be applied at the intake level. It is designed to confirm whether applications include all required drawings, documents, annotations, and supporting information before they move further into assessment. Where information is missing or inconsistent, the system flags the submission so it can be corrected earlier in the process, reducing the need for repeat submissions.
The second stage, Compliance Analysis, applies to low-rise residential design submissions that pass the initial intake check. This stage reviews proposals against the City of Ottawa zoning bylaw and selected provisions of the Ontario Building Code.
The analysis focuses on defined planning and building parameters, including setbacks, building heights, floor area ratios, impervious areas, and selected residential code requirements. The system produces outputs that include referenced code clauses, measurements extracted from submitted plans, pass or fail outcomes, and visual markers linked to plan drawings.
Initial focus on low-rise residential permits
The AI PreCheck system will initially be used for low-rise residential permit types, which account for a significant share of application volume and are often affected by repeated revision cycles.
Ottawa’s permitting system is operating under increasing pressure, with the city now home to more than 1.2 million residents. The AI PreCheck initiative aims to improve application completeness and early-stage compliance before files enter detailed review.
AI PreCheck is already in use across multiple cities
The AI PreCheck platform is already in use across more than 30 cities and government agencies across North America and Australia.
These include Surrey, Burnaby, Burlington, Austin, and Los Angeles, where similar digital permitting systems are being used to support residential planning and approval workflows.
In Ottawa, the system is expected to reduce administrative rework by identifying issues earlier in the submission process, allowing planning and building teams to focus more on technical assessment rather than initial screening.
